Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette Count For a Third of U.S. Sports Car Sales

Chevrolet is laying claim to sports car bragging rights this year after accounting for more than a third of total U.S. sports car sales with their Camaro and Corvette.

“We challenge any company to bring two cars to compete with the Corvette ZR1 and Camaro ZL1, dollar for dollar,” General Motors North America president Mark Reuss said. “They will discover what enthusiasts already know – that Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette are the world’s best performance cars for the money.”

The Camaro outsold its closest competition, the Ford Mustang, by almost 18,000 cars last year with a total 88,249 units.

According to the company, that figure is expected to grow when the ZL1 Camaro goes on sale this month. The ZL1 is the fastest production Camaro ever built: It sports a 6.2-liter supercharged LSA V8 that makes a road-ripping 580 hp. We’ll have our own verdict on the ZL1 soon — we’re out taking our first drive today.

Chevrolet recorded a 2:52.4 lap time in the ZL1 Camaro around the Grand Course at the Virginia International Raceway, which they say is more than six seconds faster than Ford’s Shelby GT500.

Similarly, the ZR1 Corvette is the fastest production car to come from Chevrolet. Its 6.2-liter LS9 V8 makes 638 hp and 604 lb-ft of torque, allowing for a 2:45.6 lap time.

While it’s sometimes difficult to believe statistics and figures released by a company when they did the testing, we can say a few things with authority.

First, the ZR-1 Corvette and ZL-1 Camaro are both stupid-quick machines that compete in the top level of their segment. Second, they’re both a hell of a lot of fun to drive. Third, given their excellent price-to-power ratio, you’re probably not going to care that the sale numbers suggest you’re likely to see someone else driving “your car” on the road.

You can watch the footage of both the ZL1 Camaro and the ZR1 Corvette taking on the Grand Course below.

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