Chevrolet offers $3,000 discount in October to switch from Ford Mustang

General Motors, in an attempt to boost disappointing sales of the Chevrolet Camaro, is offering a $3,000 discount exclusively to owners and lessees of the competing Ford Mustang. The discount, spied by GM Authority, runs through Oct. 31 and is a $500 increase over a $2,500 discount first introduced in August and renewed in September.

GM says the $2,000 discount adds to $1,000 in consumer cash incentives available to all Camaro customers in October. It means that the 2019 Camaro starts at $22,995, including destination, for the LS and $59,995 for the range-topping ZL1. The deal is exclusively for 2019 models.

“Consumers in select markets will also see an additional $1,000 in consumer cash this month,” spokesman Christopher Bonelli tells Autoblog. “We are seeing good sales of Camaro so far this fall and expect that to continue.”

The discount comes as the Camaro is stuck in third place among its Detroit Three performance segment. Third-quarter sales of the Camaro fell 15% from the previous year to 12,275 units. That’s 4,548 fewer cars than the 16,823 Mustangs sold during the same period, even though Mustang deliveries were 12.3% lower than the third quarter of 2018. Meanwhile, Dodge is eating both pony cars for lunch, with the Challenger posting its highest-ever third-quarter sales of  18,031, up 21%, and the Charger four-door up an astonishing 46% to 26,060.

Chevy famously gave its entry-level pony car an emergency update of sorts earlier this year after its mid-cycle refresh for 2019 proved divisive among Camaro enthusiasts over the black-painted bar that split the grille. Its facelift for the 2020 model year simply replaced that crossbar in body color and relocated the bowtie logo from it to the narrow upper grille. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s two redesigns in less than two years.

The 2019 model on discount here comes with a standard 2.0-liter turbo-four that makes 275 hp and 295 lb-ft with a six-speed manual. The Mustang’s entry-level engine, by comparison, is a 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder making 310 hp and 350 lb-ft.

Year-to-date through September, GM says Camaro sales were 7.6% off the pace of the same period in 2018, at 36,791. As we’ve previously reported, that figure also leaves the Camaro in third place for the first nine months of the year, though in that list the Mustang is tops with 55,365 units sold, followed by the Challenger at 46,699.