Carmakers are nothing else but businesses and when a product isn’t generating the expected sales levels, it’s a likely candidate for axing. SUVs and crossovers have already punched sedans in the gut and it looks like they’re about to claim the Chevrolet Camaro.

No, the Camaro won’t be thrown under the bus. Not yet, at least. A report coming from Australia’s Which Car claims the end date of the current Camaro generation has been extended from 2024 to 2026. If this is true, then it should provide some soothing for the Camaro-loving public out there, yet after 2026, the muscle car’s future is a complete unknown.

The Camaro has been left trailing behind its rivals for quite some time now, and 2020 only added insult to injury. In Q3 of 2020, GM pushed 8,367 Camaro units compared to 12,275 in Q3 of 2019. That’s a 31.8-percent drop in sales.

You can blame covid for part of the drop, but the Mustang and the Challenger have been keeping steady numbers despite the ongoing pandemic, although sales dropped for the two nameplates as well.

Ford sold 13,851 Mustangs in Q3 2020, a 17.7-percent decrease compared to Q3 2019, when the Blue Oval delivered 16,823 units. As far as the Challenger is concerned, Dodge sold 16,332 units of its muscle car in Q3 2020 compared to 18,031 in Q3 2019, which accounts for a 9.4-percent plunge.

Earlier this year, a report that came out in August quoted “multiple sources within GM” saying that the manufacturer won’t be developing a seventh-generation Camaro and was looking to kill the moniker come 2023. Chevrolet is still tight-lipped about the future of the Camaro on official channels, but the main reason behind a potential axing would be the muscle car’s inability to keep up with the Mustang and Challenger.

Vector in Mary Barra’s decision to greenlight a $20-billion development strategy for EVs and self-driving cars (including new battery tech and a new powertrain) that would allow GM to take on Tesla and things are far from looking rosy for the Camaro. With a newly-found focus on green cars, GM might be force to chop down its slow-selling products and the Camaro’s current situation makes the muscle car a potential victim.

A decision is yet to come, though, so we’re keeping our antennas stretched for the time being. That said, we’d hate to see the Camaro go, but if a ruling is made in this regard, we hope it involves shelving the muscle car for a couple of years until GM gets back to more profitable ways rather than putting the nameplate to sleep for good.