The era of the modern Dodge Challenger and Charger has officially ended. Earlier this morning, a 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 in Pitch Black, VIN ending in 3300, rolled off of the assembly line. That car was the last Hemi-powered muscle car to be built at Brampton, ending the era of Mopar muscle cars that began back in 2004, with more than 4.3 million cars built for Dodge and Chrysler over the 19-year period. Brampton will soon be retooled to build the next generation Jeep Compass as production of the next generation cars are moved elsewhere, so for the good people at the Canadian facility, it seems that they have built their last muscle car.
Some outlets had initially reported that production would end on December 21st, but per the company and workers at Brampton, production ended early on December 22nd.
The modern era of the Brampton Assembly Plant began back in June of 1992 with the Chrysler Concorde, the Dodge Intrepid and the Eagle Vision. The Concorde and Intrepid would continue on through 2004 while the Vision was discontinued in 1997, shortly before the Eagle brand was discontinued. The 1998-2001 Chrysler LHS and the 1998-2004 Chrysler 300M sedans, which shared a chassis with the Concorde, Intrepid and Vision were also built at the Brampton plant starting in April of 1998.
when they were still building front wheel drive models, but the modern era – featuring the return to rear-wheel-drive and Hemi power – began in February 2004 when production of the 2005 Chrysler 300 and 2005 Dodge Magnum began.
The Magnum and 300 were joined by the Dodge Charger in April of 2005 and in April of 2008, Brampton Assembly began building the modern Dodge Challenger. From 2011 through 2014, the Brampton facility also built the Lancia Thema – a rebadged Chrysler 300 – for select left-drive European markets.
This year, Brampton Assembly produced the Chrysler 300, the Dodge Charger and the Dodge Challenger, with the Magnum production having ended in late 2007. Over the course of the 19-year production run, Brampton produced 1.8-million Dodge Chargers, 1.4-million Chrysler 300s, 853,000 Dodge Challengers and 184,000 Dodge Magnums for a total of 4.3-million “L Cars” built between 2004 and November of 2023 (the numbers above do not reflect units built in December).
The final LX car to come off of the Brampton line was a Velvet Red Chrysler 300S on December 20th. The final LD car to come off of the line was a Destroyer Gray Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack and the final LA car – and the last modern muscle car to come off of the Brampton Assembly Plant line was a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 in Pitch Black, which will be repainted a currently-unknown color as part of the Jailbreak program. The Charger and Challenger was both built on December 22nd, 2023.
As a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat owner, I would like to thank the folks at Brampton for nearly two decades of building awesome Mopar muscle cars. It is certainly a sad day to discuss the end of the modern era, but it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all – and the cars built in Brampton have inspired a whole new generation of Mopar muscle lovers.
