Ford Mustang outsells rival Chevrolet Camaro

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

For the second straight month, Ford's Mustang has beat the monthly sales tally of its archrival, the Chevrolet Camaro. It was up for the first half of the year as well.

That's a huge turnabout for the original pony car. Until the recent change, it hadn't beat Camaro since last November, even with the amazing new V-6 and V-8 engines that came to the 2013 models.

In June, Ford sold 10,263 Mustangs, a tally that had fallen 9.9% compared with the same month last year. But Camaro sales were 7,236, down by more than twice the margin, 20.7%.

Ford's chief sales number keeper, Erich Merkle, likes to point out that Mustang outsells Camaro by a wide margin over the longer term. Since 2004, Ford has sold 1,020,123 Mustangs worldwide. Cheverolt sold 345,026. Of course, during much of that time, the Camaro was on ice, not being produced.

But, wait, there's one more. Dodge Challenger had fallen so far behind GM's and Ford's respective entries that it barely merited mention in stories like this one. Now it's catching up fast. Challenger saw sales of 5,191 last month, up a remarkable 27.2%, while its two rivals saw sales fall.

A three-way race? Not yet. But an interesting one.