The Challenger is back and the rebirth of the iconic Dodge muscle car is welcome news for the workers at Chrysler’s Brampton Assembly Plant.
Hundreds of employees and invited guests joined in the celebration last Thursday as the Challenger began rolling off the assembly line. The plant also turns out the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger sedans and previously the Dodge Magnum station wagon that is being phased out this year.
At a time when vehicle sales are hitting a bump in the road south of the border, Chrysler officials at the launch voiced their confidence in the success of the new Challenger, which they say will create a buzz among the car buying public.
“From my perspective it’s the ultimate halo vehicle,” said Reid Bigland, president of Chrysler Canada. “The attention this product gets is like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
For the 2008 model year, Chrysler will produce about 7,000 of the top-of-the-line SRT8 Challengers, with only about 600 destined for the Canadian market.
“Dodge dealers have seen a tremendous interest in the Dodge Challenger and 2008 models are already sold out,” said Bigland.
Talking about halo cars, the SRT8 is the top dog in the Challenger hierarchy, which will branch out later this year with two more 2009 models— the SE with a 3.5-litre 250 hp V6 engine and a 350 hp V8 model. The SRT8 has the big guns for muscle car fans— a 6.1-litre 16–valve Hemi V8, pumping out 425 hp and 420 lb/ft of torque.
Production of the 2009 models begins in August after summer shutdown.
Chrysler executives call the Challenger SRT8 a “modern muscle car.” There’s no doubt they hope to catch lightning in a bottle like Ford did when they redesigned the Mustang back in 2004 based on an earlier design. 
“Dodge Challenger represents the best of Chrysler’s past and future. The teams that worked to bring this vehicle to market with quality and speed have done an excellent job,” said Chrysler executive vice-president Frank Ewasyshn, on hand for the celebration.
“We haven’t seen this type of hype since we launched the Viper,” Ewashyshn
To ensure quality targets were met and to foster a smooth manufacturing launch for the Cahllenger, a team of Brampton employees spent months helping to build pilot vehicles at Chrysler’s Auburn Hills Technology Centre. Then, early preproduction models were built on the Brampton assembly line— rather than a pilot facility— which allowed engineers to more realistically test the production process.
The Brampton Assembly Plant features Chrysler’s Flexible Manufacturing Strategy which combines off-the-shelf robotics with customized and interchangeable tooling to build a variety of products on a single assembly line. This manufacturing process also allows the company to more quickly and easily balance vehicle production with customer demand.
Company executives wouldn’t estimate how many 2009 Challengers they hope to sell, however Bigland said that at the present time “demand is clearly oustripping our capacity… How long that demand will be there, I do not know.”
Although the original Dodge Challenger muscle car lasted only five model years, the Dodge Challenger became one of the most storied muscle car nameplates in automotive history, with meticulously restored and rare examples today selling for six-figure prices.
The Brampton Assembly Plant was built in 1986 and was later acquired by Chrysler Corporation with the purchase of American Motors Corporation in 1987. The Chrysler Concorde and Dodge Intrepid began production in 1997 and the Chrysler LHS and 300M in 1998. Production of rear-wheel-drive vehicles started in 2004 with the launch of the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum. Production of the Dodge Charger was launched in early 2005.
The 2.95 million sq. ft. plant is now operating two shifts with 2,750 employees.