Brampton gets a new Challenger

Nathan Denette, the Associated Press
Dodge Challenger, at Canadian International Autoshow, will be built in Brampton.

But eager fans will have to wait until 2008
(Feb 22, 2007)
2007 CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL AUTOSHOW

The new Dodge Challenger muscle car will be assembled in Ontario.

Production of the two-door sports coupe is to begin in the spring of 2008 in Brampton, as the Challenger is added to the plant's existing production of Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger sedans and Dodge Magnum station wagons.

The Challenger is not expected to be a high-volume product, but its addition to the lineup could help keep the plant continuing to operate on a three-shift basis.

The Challenger, currently one of the highlights of the Canadian International Autoshow in Toronto, will do battle in the marketplace against the long-established Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro, which General Motors has said will be made in Oshawa, Ont., and be in showrooms by 2009.

Chrysler said last summer it would build the Challenger but had not confirmed the assembly site, although Brampton was seen as the logical choice because the vehicle shares its basic rear-wheel-drive architecture with the 300, Charger and Magnum.

Production will begin barely two years after the presentation of the concept, and Brampton will be the first Chrysler Group plant assembling four separate models.

"Quickly bringing desirable new products such as the Dodge Challenger to market is critical to keeping our plants humming and our dealerships busy," stated DaimlerChrysler Canada CEO Reid Bigland.

Chrysler's other Canadian assembly complex, in Windsor, Ont., produces Dodge and Chrysler minivans and the Chrysler Pacifica crossover.

DaimlerChrysler credited the choice of Ontario as the source of the Challenger partly to the provincial government's "strong support for the Brampton assembly plant through its contribution to the plantwide third shift training program that was essential to the successful launch of the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum."

Chrysler also announced this week that the production version of the Dodge Challenger will be unveiled at the 2008 Chicago Auto.

Until then, the current Challenger Concept vehicle will be accompanied by a countdown clock at every auto show it attends this year, just to remind Challenger fans how many more saving days, minutes and seconds are left.