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By Patrick Rall Sep 19 2016 - 2:28pm

Chevrolet Offers Mustang Owners Big Discounts on a New Camaro

General Motors is looking to spur sales of the new Chevrolet Camaro and one interesting approach taken by the automaker is to offer owners of a Ford Mustang a “conquest” discount of $2,000 on a 2016 Camaro or $1,500 on a 2017 Camaro – and the Mustang owner doesn’t need to trade in their Ford to get this discount on a new Chevy muscle car.

Chevrolet Camaro slows over the course of the first half of 2016 have been much slower than I expected and while GM hasn’t made an official statement on the topic of slow sales, it doesn’t take an industry expert to understand that GM doesn’t like seeing the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger outsell the Camaro month after month.

Having driven the 2016 Camaro, I honestly can’t wrap my head around the fact that the new model isn’t comfortably outselling the 2015 model, but in polling a large group of Camaro fans and owners, many of them find the 2016 prices to be too high. When asked why they haven’t or wouldn’t buy a 2016 Camaro, the vast majority of those folks – many of whom own at least one Camaro – stated the pricing as their biggest deterrent.

Well, it seems that GM was paying some attention to the complaints of their fans, as help improve Camaro sales over the past few months, Chevrolet has introduced different incentive programs to bring down the purchase price. The most interesting is the freshly announced Ford Mustang Conquest Discount, with Chevrolet offering Ford Mustang owners or lessees up to $2,000 off of a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro.

Ford Mustang Conquest Discount
If you are not familiar with the term “conquest discount” used in reference to this Chevrolet Camaro discount for Ford Mustang owners, here is a quick explanation.

In the auto industry, a major metric of a vehicle’s success is “conquest sales”. A conquest sale is a situation when a buyer comes into a dealership to buy a vehicle after having previously owned a direct competitor. A few examples would be a Chevrolet Silverado owner buying a new Ford F150, a BMW owner buying a new Lexus or a Ford Mustang owner buying a new Chevrolet Camaro. These types of sales are important, as they show that the given vehicle was good enough to sway an owner out of their previous vehicle and into a new one from another company. More importantly, when someone driving a Silverado, a BMW or a Mustang opts for the aforementioned F150, Lexus or Camaro, they are not contributing to the company which got their business when they made their previous vehicle purchase.

A conquest sale adds to a company’s bottom line while taking away from a key competitor, making these shoppers key factors for success in today’s auto industry. This is so key, in fact, that GM is willing to pay Ford Mustang owners as much as $2,000 to buy a new Camaro.

To be exact, anyone who owns or leases a Ford Mustang can drop by their local Chevrolet dealership and get $2,000 off of a 2016 Camaro or $1,500 off of a 2017 Camaro. It should be noted that to get this discount, the Mustang owners or lessees don’t need to trade in their Ford – just prove that they are, indeed, Ford owners.

This discount essentially offers the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to Ford Mustang owners for the price of the new Ford Mustang. The goal here is to entice those Mustang owners who aren’t particularly loyal to Ford Motor Company to buy a new Camaro instead of a new Mustang. While this likely won’t have a huge impact on muscle car sales, every unit makes a difference in a tight race. The race isn’t tight right now, but with the new 1LE and ZL1 on the way, we should soon see a boost in Camaro sales among those buyers who are focused on premium performance.

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Comments

Genesis wrote on September 19, 2016 - 6:12pm
I just purchased a 2016 RS Camaro convertible turbo for 9000 off sticker. Price is the main factor of slow sales. I was gonna get a Mustang Eco boost convertible. But wow the Camaro is 100x better. Even the top is better. I grew up riding in Mustangs. Not anymore. Former Ford fan girl. Now team Chevy!
sean wrote on September 20, 2016 - 8:24am
Well Blue Bonnett Ford in TX is selling mustang GTs for 29K ....thats 15 K less than a SS camaro. I will take that bet for 20 HP. Chevy is WAY too proud of the camaro. its ridiculous. heck you can buy a 727 HP supercharged mustang at Lebanon Ford in OH for 40K ...far less than than SS ..... Chevy needs to get real ...Mustangs are outselling camaros 7 to 1 world wide..
Genisis wrote on September 20, 2016 - 3:10pm
If the prices stay insanely low the camaro will equal mustang sales. It's just a way better car. In my opinion the 2015 2016 mustang is not much different looking than 2014. Just add the fusion front end. So fan boys stop posting. I like mystangs. But I challenge anyone to put a 6th Gen camaro convertible beside a mustang convertible. Then ask what's best. My car us world's above the Mustang. In driving. In handling. In the convertible top. Sure my sticker puts it out of reach for people but it's best
Phil wrote on October 3, 2016 - 8:57am
April we know that is you, what good is the Camaro's driving dynamic's if you feel like you are driving a coffin? It's tiny, Chevy sales reps call the back seat a "storage self" that is their words not mine. You need to stop being a GM fan girl and be a Camaro fan and join the many Gamaro fans that are showing GM tough love and asking them to make the Camaro a practical car again. Who cares if it's a track star? I don't like my head brushing the ceiling or bumping elbows with the passenger, a 2+2 ought to be usable. Do you have ever take a long weekend to the beach - good luck in a Camaro. It seems GM looked at the Zeta Camaro and took all the wrong take aways as to why it was such a popular car. So "way better car?" depends on how you look at it, from my perspective GM killed the Camaro in '15 and we have some sort of Corvette / Camaro blend in it's place. This generation Camaro will never equal Mustang sales as there are many that see things just as I do - a car is transportation 1st, as simply transportation the Camaro sucks hard.
Crash McCracken wrote on September 20, 2016 - 4:38pm
The Camaro is still too large and heavy. The original Mustang and Camaro were around 2600 lbs. There's now 200 lbs of federal mandates, but still. The pony cars should be the size of a Ford Fiesta. I like a V-8 too, but I think America might be over it.
Genesis wrote on September 20, 2016 - 10:24pm
Your right Crash about America is over v8s. Face it. NO ONE who drives legally will EVER go 1/4 mile times their car is rated for. They would be arrested. 0-60 is the thing everyone who doesn't love to brag cares about. Mine goes 0-60 I think in 5.6? It's so much fun and gets 31 mpg hwy. Plus with the RS package it looks cute. In a few years the mythical awesome v8s of the 60s and 70s no one will care. I don't care really if I beat a Mustang. I'm not gonna race anyone. But at least I an pass when I need too. BUT I can beat a stock 1970 Chevelle SS 0-60. :P
Steve wrote on October 3, 2016 - 9:29am
I have a Mustang GT with a manual and I get 30-31 mpg on the hwy if I keep speeds reasonable, in 75/25 highway/city driving I commonly go through a tank averaging 28mpg. In all highway driving I can get 30 if I try and keep up with traffic. In mixed driving I get 24-26 which IMO is very good for a car with this much power. The Coyote makes good power at low rpm so "keeping up with traffic" is easily done w/o really getting into the power, Of course I have a mechanical engineering background and find the Coyote to be an impressive showcase of the best cutting edge modern engine technology. That is honestly a big factor in why I bought a GT vs. a V6 or Turbo. IMO it's one of the top NA engine ever built. The premium Mustang GT is simply the total package, the engine, driving dynamics, the interior. There are some compromises in usefulness because it's a two-door coupe, however Ford made it just big enough that it will surprise many of it's day-to-day usefulness. I objectively evaluated a '16 Camaro before buying the Mustang, I really did, and based on the reviews of the '15 Mustang I had never checked one out. I read the COTY article and thought - the Camaro must be something, what I learned is sure the Camaro is an awesome driver's car, that is about it. It's small, just as everyone says seeing out of it is a nightmare - you have to stop 30' back from a stop light to see it or else rely on the cars around you to find out when the light turns, the back seat is actually not usable. Then of course I looked at the window sticker and in no way could I justify the cost of a Camaro for what you are getting. It's a car for self-centered people if there ever was one. I figured the Mustang was just as bad and still didn't go check one out; a friend owns one and convinced me to borrow it (seriously I wasn't interested) and as a result I changed my mind completely, the Mustang is a pony car done right, there is one in my garage and I have paid it forward and let a friend and his wife borrow it, and they just ordered the a loaded 2018 w/ the ten speed (I'll always be happy with the manual).
Genisis wrote on October 3, 2016 - 2:58pm
Steve in no way is the mustang gt even close to amy level of camaro. I doubt you actually have a Mustang. If you did you would respect everyone's opinion. Are you really an adult? You seem to hate anyone who likes a Camaro. There is a update in 2018 for mustang. It will get 10 speed auto and reresh. Hopefully bit more power. Then maybe it will be better than camaro. But as of now drive your rental car pos
Steve wrote on October 3, 2016 - 6:16pm
I'm not getting how you believe I am not respecting anyone's opinion, for me a Mustang GT is exactly what I am looking in a 2 door V8 coupe. I pointed out a the V8 in a Mustang will surprisingly good mpg's if you drive them easy, it was something I wasn't expecting, it's not a huge deal though getting 28-29 from a 400+HP V8 is remarkable. I don't actually care what you think, a Camaro isn't a usable 2+2 and I wouldn't buy one for that reason, for me it wasn't the better car. I'm not sure how you believe it's "not even close to any level" I doubt you've driven either or you'd probably say they are similar.
Genisis wrote on October 3, 2016 - 3:03pm
Hey Phil. Seems this is a mustang fan boy/ girl sight. I'll say it again. Any 2015 mustang is far less of a car than camaro. Now I like mustangs bur because of all the haters I will defrnd camaro. Enjoy your trade in value when 2018 comes in. Lol they will discount the crap out of them. And all you will have is a 2 door ford fusion. Enjoy your trade car
Phil wrote on October 3, 2016 - 6:22pm
A well maintained Mustang will always hold it's value - they always have, always will. GM finally managed to outsell the Mustang one month this year - by discounting the crap out of them, that's what you call ironic. I've seen believable posts of Chevy dealers marking down Camaro's 6-8k just to move them and they aren't even a year old, again a bit of irony given your post. If Ford puts magnetic ride as an option on the GT I may get a new one, though I have no doubt if I wanted to sell outright I'd get a pretty good price.