Stellantis' Brampton plant faces uncertain future in electric era

Production of the Dodge Charger and Challenger is expected to move to the United States next year, according to one forecasting company, potentially leaving the Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ontario, without a product to build beyond 2023.

But a union official who represents the plant's 3,000 workers said he hasn't seen any signs of a possible closure and thinks it would be in line for production of an electric muscle car.

"Our products right now are paying the bills for Stellantis," Unifor Local 1285 President Danny Price told Automotive News sibling publication Automotive News Canada. "Our days of order right now are higher than when we launched these vehicles years ago. … You don't close a plant that's got product that's paying the bills for the rest of the corporation."

In addition to the Charger and Challenger, Brampton makes the Chrysler 300, which is expected to be discontinued within two years, AutoForecast Solutions CEO Joe McCabe said.

"Analyzing the Stellantis portfolio ... across North America, one of the things we see is the Charger and Challenger potentially going to the United States, leaving a void at Brampton starting in 2024," McCabe said.

McCabe's comments came after Stellantis' EV Day this month, when the automaker said it would introduce a battery-electric muscle car to its lineup in 2024. Stellantis has not said where that car would be built.

The Charger and Challenger are believed to be highly profitable vehicles for Stellantis, but it has remained unclear what the company's long-term plans are for the Brampton factory especially as the automaker embraces electrification and software development to the tune of $35 billion (all figures in USD) through 2025.

FCA Canada, the division of Stellantis that operates the Brampton plant said in a statement that it “won't discuss future products or plans for the Brampton Assembly Plant.”

“However, as a reminder, the latest collective bargaining agreement (Oct. 2020) included plans to invest $50 million to introduce three new variants of the Dodge Charger and Challenger, and continue production of the Chrysler 300,” company said.

AFS' forecast does not necessarily mean Brampton Assembly will close. The forecasting company said in 2020 that Ford Motor Co.'s Oakville Assembly in Ontario would no longer build Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers beyond their current life cycles.

Ford later agreed to a $1.8 billion investment in the plant that eventually will bring EV production to Oakville.

Unifor and Stellantis are set to negotiate a new contract in 2023.

During the 2020 negotiations between Unifor and Fiat Chrysler, Stellantis' predecessor, the automaker agreed to invest $50 million in the Brampton factory to introduce new derivatives of the Charger and Challenger.

But long-term questions about what the plant would build beyond 2023 were left unanswered, in contrast to $1.5 billion earmarked for Windsor Assembly, which builds minivans.