Is the 2 Door Muscle car era coming to an End?

[G. David Felt]

Auto enthusiast have since the dawn of the car had a desire to go faster and in this, the 2 door, 2 person auto was the focus of go fast compared to the 4 door, 4 or 5 person sedan and especially in comparison to CUVs, SUVs and Trucks.

Yet in the last few decades we have seen performance Trucks and SUVs / CUVs that have gotten close to what some call Muscle Cars. Even some specialty sedans like the Chevrolet SS of recent decades has also introduced performance fun to the family.

Tesla burst onto the scene in the early 2000's and had a Roadster that blew people away that could afford such a novelty with it's gut pounding acceleration. Later came the Tesla S with performance that rivaled many if not just about all of the industry made auto's while not yet beating the European Luxury brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini or even the Chevrolet Corvette or the top of the line Mustang and Camaro.

Continue to speed forward to this current decade and we now have the Tesla S Plaid sedan that truly makes one question how does an ICE Muscle car compete?

Is the Answer in how Dodge has approached the electric auto?

Dodge Announces Electric Muscle Car for 2024 – Robb Report

While Dodge seems to imply that we will still have a 2 door muscle car, the rumor mill has been going crazy that both the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro will go to a 4 door performance sedan. The amount of Photoshopped versions have been crazy as we see Camaro's like this one done by X-TOMI Design.

Then we also have the 4 door Mustang Design, not a warmed over version of the Mach-e but an actual photoshop of what a 4 door mustang would look like.

On top of this change with Tesla currently leading the way with the fastest 4 door sedans is that even in the Top End Luxury market, we have companies like Lamborghini that has shown off a 4 door electric performance sedan.

This has been followed up by Bugatti stating that they are exploring the change over to a 4 door performance electric sedan replacing their 2 door versions. In 2009 Bugatti showed off their Galibier 16C powered by the big W16 engine and now they are looking at this as the possible future for the brand as a BEV.

We also have brands such as Audi who have decided to stick to the top end being luxury sedans with an electric A9 that will be built on the next generation platform that will also be used by Porsche. Originally planned to be released in 2020, it has been delayed a few years due to the Global pandemic.

 

So we have the high end of luxury brands helping to pay for lower tier electric auto's and the global auto industry is now focused on converting over product lines by 2030, 3025 and 2040 depending on which brand you read about.

It would be safe to say it is not if but when a product line will be changed over to electric and clearly Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet have been clear that they see their muscle cars will carry on to 2030 in various forms. Yet one cannot ignore the writing on the wall about electrification.

 

As such, it brings the question for discussion here:

Will the Traditional American Muscle Car stay 2 doors or go 4 doors?

If we go by these stories, it would seem a sure bet that the Camaro electric replacement for the ICE version is 4 doors.

There Will Be a New Camaro-But It's a 4-Door Sedan: No! (motorbiscuit.com)

The Chevy Camaro Will Be Replaced by an All-Electric Sedan: Report – Robb Report

The Chevrolet Camaro Will Be Replaced by 4-Door Electric Sedan - Maxim

Chevy Camaro will reportedly be reborn as all-electric, four-door sedan | Tom's Guide (tomsguide.com)

The Chevy Camaro Is Reportedly Being Replaced by a 4-Door Electric Sedan - BMW Autoelectrician (bmw-autoelectrician.com)

 

Then we have the rumor mill at it about the Ford Mustang, will it move to 4 doors?

Ford Mustang Mach-F Looks Like a Four-Door Electric Pony Car to Rival Tesla - autoevolution

This brings us back to the reason for writing this editorial is to bring up the discussion among people:

• What is a future muscle car?
• Will the Traditional American Muscle Car stay 2 doors or go 4 doors?
• Will Chevrolet Camaro become a 4 door Muscle Car?
• Will Ford Mustang become a 4 door Muscle Car?
• Is the Dodge Challenger with 2 doors and electric still a muscle car?

I encourage people to ask themselves these questions and sound off in the comment section on what they believe the future of Muscle cars will be and why.

Bugatti might replace Chiron with a four-door with electric powertrain - Luxurylaunches

Lamborghini electric four-door GT sedan in development for 2025, report says (autoweek.com)

2020 Audi A9 C E-Tron,The Four-Door Luxury Electric Car ! (autonews-mag.com)

View full article

[smk4565]

I think the Camaro will become a sedan because the Impala nameplate doesn’t really carry as much weight and it has to be one of the two.

2 door cars in general are dying, I suspect Mustang stays a coupe unless sales get awful, GM has Corvette for their coupe.  I feel like car companies will have 1 coupe, and I don’t mean per brand, but per corporation, like Stellantis with 12 brands maybe does 2 coupes.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 door anything is coming to an end. 

[G. David Felt]

I honestly do not see 2 door cars surviving past 2030 as young and old want to carry people and 4 doors make it much more comfortable and easy to get people in and out than 2 doors. The few 2 doors that MIGHT survive will be true high end special luxury cars I believe.

[oldshurst442]

Maybe...

If EVs are truly the wave of the future, maybe, compact cars in North America will truly disappear.  And if that happens, maybe, midsize vehicles, even if CUVs, will grow bigger. Become longer and wider.  If maybe that happens, maybe, the necessity for having 4 doors wont be an issue because midsizers are now gonna be fullsizers again.  Maybe...

And if that happens, maybe, because EVs dont necessitate all that transmission tunnel stuff cutting in the interior and space for an engine up front making a huge dashboard protrude into the interior, maybe, that will inspire a 2 door, personal luxury car market again. Which will filter down to affordable 2 door personal cars. Pony cars. Muscle cars....  

Edited August 6, 2021 by oldshurst442

[ccap41]

11 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

2 door anything is coming to an end. 

It's sad but I'm not helping that fact. 

9 hours ago, David said:

I honestly do not see 2 door cars surviving past 2030 as young and old want to carry people and 4 doors make it much more comfortable and easy to get people in and out than 2 doors. The few 2 doors that MIGHT survive will be true high end special luxury cars I believe.

Oh people with money will still want toy vehicles. I sure know if I had the extra money there would be a 2-door-somthing at home. 

[balthazar]

14 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

2 door anything is coming to an end. 

Maybe, maybe not. 'They' said that about convertibles, remember.

Oh course- if all the 2-drs go, so do all the convertibles. ?

[G. David Felt]

22 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Maybe, maybe not. 'They' said that about convertibles, remember.

Oh course- if all the 2-drs go, so do all the convertibles. ?

Nope, wrong, I can see a market for a proper 4 door convertible since they were liked in the past.

Being BEV, they will be roomy and far more useful than convertibles of the past.

Not a convertible, but clearly a desirable open air auto!

[balthazar]

"Wrong"?

The Lincoln is factory ('61-'67), the Cadillac is not.
Last Cadillac 4-dr convertible was this one: 

Talk about a dead body style.

And the t-top thing was tried en-mass to replace the convertible. Nothing ushered its return quicker.

[G. David Felt]

9 minutes ago, balthazar said:

"Wrong"?

The Lincoln is factory ('61-'67), the Cadillac is not.
Last Cadillac 4-dr convertible was this one: 

Talk about a dead body style.

And the t-top thing was tried en-mass to replace the convertible. Nothing ushered its return quicker.

Still think if people want a convertible down the road of future BEV, they will get made on the 4 door auto's.

I personally like the T top thing over the Convertible thing.

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, David said:

Still think if people want a convertible down the road of future BEV, they will get made on the 4 door auto's.

Sure; they can ask Santa for one.

Motive power has zero to do with body style availability. Is the regular cab / long bed pickup coming back 'if people want it' because it's pushed by kW instead of BTUs?

Edited August 6, 2021 by balthazar

[ccap41]

Yeah, I'm quite certain people didn't stop buying coupes and convertibles because they're powered by an ICE.

[Robert Hall]

It is sad, I remember when there were many 2dr coupes, hatchbacks, 2dr sedans and convertibles on the market...not that long ago....30 years ago when I was in my early 20s.   2 doors used to be very popular w/ young drivers and single drivers of all ages.    I mostly drove 2drs until I was 30.   I wouldn't mind having another 2dr again, the impracticality of long doors make them irritating (couldn't use one w/ my current garage).  

[balthazar]

Have had bunches of both door counts for various reasons/happenstance, but I'll always prefer 2-drs since I don't have  3.5 screaming children to ferry around.

Plus.... dey cooler.

[Drew Dowdell]

10 hours ago, balthazar said:

Maybe, maybe not. 'They' said that about convertibles, remember.

Oh course- if all the 2-drs go, so do all the convertibles. ?

Convertibles are mostly gone. Outside of supercars, there's 2 domestics, 7 Germans (two of which are extremely low volume), and one extremely low volume Japanese. 

[riviera74]

Falling sales have crushed both muscle cars AND convertibles.  Seems like almost anyone who can either buy or lease new wants a crossover these days.  Also, there is no guarantee that EVs will ever be in a convertible format.  Sad, really ☹️.

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, riviera74 said:

Also, there is no guarantee that EVs will ever be in a convertible format.

True, but again- it has nothing to do with motive power.