For the first time in almost two years, the Chevrolet Camaro finally scored a rare win over the Ford Mustang in monthly sales numbers for September 2016. It was far from a convincing victory for the Camaro - 6,577 units to 6,429 units - but after getting pummeled by the Mustang for the past two years, Chevy’s taking this win any way it can get it.

Increased incentives from Chevrolet to buy the Camaro was the biggest reason behind the scales tipping to the Camaro’s side. According to Power Information Network, Chevy increased its incentives for the Camaro to $3,340 in September, a three-fold increase from the $1,080 in incentives from the previous month. The September incentives for the Camaro put it above Ford’s own incentive program for the Mustang, which dropped to $2,980 in September from $3,150 the previous month.

The Camaro’s low incentive program has been a sore spot for customers and is attributed as one of the reasons behind the Mustang’s sales dominance. That and the fact that the sixth-generation Mustang really is a hot seller. But, with a 139-day supply of the Camaro for the month of September, Chevrolet needed to move a lot of those models and reduce its 2016MY inventories in time for the arrival of the 2017 model. Lo and behold, the strategy paid off as the muscle car’s average transaction price increased by more than $5,000 from its year-on-year numbers.

It’s a solid win for the Chevrolet Camaro and a badly needed one too, considering that the Ford Mustang has been laying waste to it for the better part of two years.

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Don't celebrate yet, Chevrolet

While there is some semblance of pride and validation that Chevrolet can take from stopping the Mustang’s 22-month sales streak, it’s important to remember that the Mustang is still poised to win the 2016 sales battle with the Camaro and just as important, the Challenger Hellcat is still very much in contention for second place too.

So while it is a reason to be happy, it’s really nothing more than a temporary shot in the arm for the Camaro. On that end, I don’t think that Chevrolet minds it at all because it has likely conceded that it won’t outsell the sixth-gen Mustang until the arrival of the seventh-generation Camaro, which could take a few more years.

So yes, this is a victory of sorts for the Camaro and it should probably enjoy these wins as much as it can considering that the Mustang has still outsold the Camaro in 2016 sales through September by a really big margin: 87,258 units to 54,535 units. At the very least, Chevrolet can say that it has widened the sales gap between the Camaro and the Dodge Challenger, which has sold 51,186 units in the first nine months of the year. Small victories, right?

Read our full review on the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro here.

Read our full review on the 2016 Ford Mustang here.