Sales of sports cars in the US are down 9% in the first half of 2022, in an overall market down 18%. Sports cars now account for 1.6% of the total US car market with just over 110,000 deliveries, of which 73% were one of the four American muscle cars Mustang, Challenger, Camaro and Corvette, up from 71.5%. 
The first three of those have been in a continuous battle for the title of America’s best selling sports car and the Dodge Challenger shockingly took the lead from the Ford Mustang which had been on top since 2016. This year the Mustang started back on top but the Challenger fought back in Q2, outselling the pony car by 2,300 units. However, this wasn’t enough for the top spot year-to-date,which still belongs to Ford by about 550 deliveries. This is proving to become another exciting year for the battle of America’s favorite muscle car. The Chevrolet Camaro is too far behind to put itself back in the mix for overall win, but is still the only of the three to improve this year, up 14% year-to-date and up an impressive 63% in Q2 resulting in 3.2 extra points of share. Best performer overall is the Toyota 86, almost quintupling its deliveries thanks to the new generation, and it storms to 4th place as best of the rest. The new GR86 sa sales improve more than tenfold in the second quarter. Its twin Subaru BRZ is up 131% into 8th place. The Mazda MX-5 Miata and Toyota Supra lose ground significantly, and less so do the Porsche 718, Hyundai Veloster and BMW Z4.
US compact sports car sales 2022-H1
| Compact sports car segment | 2022-H1 | 2021-H1 | Change | 2022 Share | 2021 Share | 2022-Q2 | Change | |
| 1 | Ford Mustang | 26.244 | 31.950 | -18% | 32,6% | 34,9% | 12.258 | -16% |
| 2 | Dodge Challenger | 25.682 | 30.148 | -15% | 31,9% | 33,0% | 14.558 | -3% |
| 3 | Chevrolet Camaro | 11.255 | 9.881 | 14% | 14,0% | 10,8% | 4.545 | 63% |
| 4 | Toyota 86 | 6.177 | 1.034 | 497% | 7,7% | 1,1% | 2.920 | 981% |
| 5 | Mazda MX-5 Miata | 2.800 | 6.677 | -58% | 3,5% | 7,3% | 1.195 | -70% |
| 6 | Toyota Supra | 2.684 | 4.548 | -41% | 3,3% | 5,0% | 1.577 | -44% |
| 7 | Porsche 718 | 1.744 | 2.412 | -28% | 2,2% | 2,6% | 962 | 6% |
| 8 | Subaru BRZ | 1.663 | 721 | 131% | 2,1% | 0,8% | 692 | 401% |
| 9 | Hyundai Veloster | 1.129 | 1.361 | -17% | 1,4% | 1,5% | 667 | -1% |
| 10 | BMW Z4 | 756 | 891 | -15% | 0,9% | 1,0% | 477 | -31% |
| 11 | Audi TT | 245 | 612 | -60% | 0,3% | 0,7% | 123 | -64% |
| 12 | Fiat 124 Spider | 7 | 873 | -99% | 0,0% | 1,0% | 2 | -99% |
| 13 | Alfa Romeo 4C | 1 | 67 | -99% | 0,0% | 0,1% | 0 | -100% |
| 14 | Mercedes-Benz SLC | 0 | 222 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,2% | 0 | -100% |
| 15 | Nissan 370Z | 0 | 33 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0 | -100% |
| Segment total | 80.387 | 91.430 | -12% | 39.976 | -7% |
In the large sports car segment, which accounts for just 27.2% of total US sports car sales (up from 24.5% in 2021), is one of only three growing segments in the USA so far in 2022 with sales up 1%. The Corvette is still king and improves its share of the class to an ultra-dominant 58.1%, thanks to a 20% jump in deliveries. That means the ‘Vette even outsells its smaller sibling Camaro. The Porsche 911 remains in second place with a stable share, after a 31% jump in deliveries in Q2. Taht allows it to distance the BMW 8-Series which is down by 5%. The Mercedes-Benz AMG GT is down 18% as the convertible version is going to be relaunched as the next generation Mercedes-Benz SL. The Lexus LC (-47%), Jaguar F-Type (-44%) and Audi R8 (-56%) are struggling this year, while the Acura NSX surprisingly more than doubles its deliveries, even though it’s still quite a niche player with just 0.4% share. Sales of the Mercedes-Benz SL have come to a stop in Q2 as the brand is preparing to renew the model to make it a lot more sporty than it has been in recent generations. Someone bought a “brand new” Dodge Viper, even though production ended almost 5 years ago.
US large sports car sales 2022-H1
| Large sports car segment | 2022-H1 | 2021-H1 | Change | 2022 Share | 2021 Share | 2022-Q2 | Change | |
| 1 | Chevrolet Corvette | 17.441 | 14.582 | 20% | 58,1% | 49,2% | 8.630 | 8% |
| 2 | Porsche 911 | 5.175 | 5.108 | 1% | 17,2% | 17,2% | 3.052 | 31% |
| 3 | BMW 8-series | 3.586 | 3.781 | -5% | 11,9% | 12,8% | 2.185 | -4% |
| 4 | Mercedes-AMG GT | 1.906 | 2.329 | -18% | 6,3% | 7,9% | 964 | -14% |
| 5 | Lexus LC | 833 | 1.575 | -47% | 2,8% | 5,3% | 391 | -58% |
| 6 | Jaguar F-Type | 684 | 1.212 | -44% | 2,3% | 4,1% | 284 | -44% |
| 7 | Audi R8 | 158 | 356 | -56% | 0,5% | 1,2% | 90 | -57% |
| 8 | Acura NSX | 123 | 60 | 105% | 0,4% | 0,2% | 77 | 79% |
| 9 | Ford GT | 58 | 63 | -8% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 22 | -27% |
| 10 | Nissan GT-R | 54 | 99 | -45% | 0,2% | 0,3% | 4 | -92% |
| 11 | BMW i8 | 5 | 10 | -50% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 1 | -50% |
| 12 | Mercedes-Benz SL | 2 | 444 | -100% | 0,0% | 1,5% | 0 | -100% |
| 13 | Dodge Viper | 1 | 2 | -50% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 1 | – |
| Segment total | 30.026 | 29.621 | 1% | 15.701 | 1% |
Source: Manufacturers.