Final 2023 Challenger comes off the line, ending a wild Hemi-powered era
Automotive News Canada has the full report, backed by pictures on Facebook: The final 2023 Dodge Charger and 2023 Challenger, and the last Chrysler 300, have come off the line at Stellantis’ Brampton Assembly Plant. That means lights out for the L platform that started with the 300C in 2004; reignited a Hemi-powered era of muscle cars that began with a 5.7-liter V8 making 325 horsepower and ended with a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 making 1,025 hp; and has sold more than 4.3 million units in nearly 20 years. Canada’s auto union hourly-employee lead at the plant said, “Our members have worked six days a week for a long period of time.” Stellantis design boss Ralph Gilles called the evolution that kept the range popular a “study in life-cycle management,” adding with understatement unknown to every one of his bellowing vehicular babies, “It has exceeded all of our expectations.”
The last 300 drove into the sunset on December 20, following the 300C earlier this month. Our favorite line in the Autonews Canada story is, “[Chrysler] has gone through four ownership changes since, while the 300 has shifted into only its second generation.” On December 22, the final Charger was supposedly a Destroyer Gray Scat Pack Widebody. Going out with a corn-powered bang, the last Challenger had the honor of turning out the Brampton lights, an SRT Demon 170 in Pitch Black. Naturally.
Brampton goes dark for nearly two years now as Stellantis retools the facility with new stamping lines and paint shop. When workers return in late 2025, they’ll be building the next-generation Jeep Compass and vehicles on the STLA Medium platform with ICE and battery-electric powertrains. The follow-ups to the Charger and Challenger will begin with an all-new Charger built just over 200 miles away at the Windsor Assembly Plant. That car, previewed by the SRT Banshee Concept, is going to sit on the STLA Large platform and be offered with a Hurricane inline-six and battery-electric drivetrains.
The Chrysler 300 won’t resume in such a recognizable way. Brand boss Christine Feuell said last year that there’ll be three new Chrysler products in the next few years (and a Pacifica refresh!), two of them SUVs. If that third product is a car, Gilles was vague about its relation to the Hemi sedan, saying “I don’t think people are going to say it’s a new 300 per se, but they will say it’s a fantastic new Chrysler.”
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