A Day to Remember – The Last Dodge Challenger and Charger Have Been Built

I hope you all had a great holiday season and New Years and since this is the first blog post of 2024, Happy New Year to my readers. I hope this new year brings you all the good things that you wanted and is a successful year for you all. Welcome to those who newly discovered my site and welcome back to my returning readers. Here’s to another great year for all! 

~~~

December 22, 2023 will forever be an iconic day for gearheads, especially if the Dodge Challenger and Chargers were your favourite cars. The last cars for both models rolled off the assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario (where I grew up) at the Stellantis Brampton Assembly Plant. So why did Dodge decide to do this? Well for two reasons actually. First, Stellantis is changing gears in terms of the cars they produce, after last year, they will have a new focus. Second, as many of you may or may not know, Stellantis is the parent company of Dodge, and since Dodge is trying to refocus the type of cars it sells – shifting its investments toward electric vehicles (cars and SUV’s) – it is no surprise these 2 were the first to be dropped.  

Studies have shown through the years, that the Challenger was not really doing the greatest in the market, despite the amount you may see on the roads currently, however the same cannot be said about the Charger, so let’s start with the latter. The Dodge Charger first hit the market in 1966, and interestingly enough it was a couple years earlier (1964) when the first Charger was featured at a car show. The production car was born from the car show and was produced and went on sale in the Fall of 1965 as the 1966 model.

Over the years, it has come available in a couple of different engine types including: a 3.6 liter V6, a 5.7 liter-Hemi V8, and 6.4 liter Hemi V8. This vehicle is a popular choice if you are looking for power as well as style and it comes with 2 different transmission options as well, rear wheel drive and all wheel drive. In comparison to its rivals, the Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Impala, it is not as popular but it is still a good car for its value. 

For the following set of data, it is important to note that this information was based on 3 countries; Canada, the United States, and Europe (although these cars were never sold in Europe, they were imported by the grey market). In Canada, as the following chart will show, 2018 saw the biggest amount of cars sold for this model at 4,918 units while not surprisingly 2020 saw the lowest at 1,659 units. 

Since then, the Charger saw pretty decent sales figures in 2022 and 2023 and this could be because of the price and rarity of the vehicle. The 2023 model comes in 8 different trim levels (SXT, GT, R/T, Scat Pack, Scat Pack Widebody, SRT Hellcat Widebody, SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody, and SRT Jailbreak) and the price ranges from between $44,295 and $115,990 MSRP (CDN). According to a Dodge representative, the final Charger was a Scat Pack Widebody model painted in Destroyer Grey (featured at the end of this post). 

Now let’s talk about the Challenger. The Challenger entered the market in 1970 as Dodge’s attempt to compete with this car’s rivals, the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. At the time, although it was a late entry, the car did pretty well, probably because of the fact it had the ability to make 425 horsepower. It is important to note that it was first introduced in the Fall of 1969, with all intentions of being released in 1970. 

The initial idea for the Challenger was to have a turbine engine, but the designers decided to leave it out. However, the sketches were liked so much that they did eventually decide to implement the idea and took it as inspiration for their final product. Like the Charger, the Challenger also comes available in a few different engine types, including: a Supercharged 6.2L High Output Hemi V8, a Supercharged 6.2L Hemi V8, a 392 Hemi V8, a 5.7L V8, and a 3.6L Pentastar V6. 

In Canada, as the following chart will show 2017 had the highest number of units sold with 3,422 units and 2021 had the least amount of sales with only 1,473 units. 

The 2023 model starts at $34,395 and has the ability to make 485 horsepower. It also features an 8 speed automatic transmission with manual shifting mode. Again, according to a Dodge representative, the final Challenger was an SRT Demon 170 in Pitch Black (also featured at the bottom of this post).

So What’s Next?

Although Dodge did decide to wipe these cars out, they do have a plan. The successor for both cars is expected to be combined into one model that’s previewed by the Charger Daytona SRT concept and will be built at the Windsor Assembly Plant (still sticking to it’s Canadian roots). Dodge did announce an electric model will follow in the 2024 production year to replace these two, with a release date of 2025, however it is now looking like this timeline will be delayed. 

Final Thoughts

Of the two, which was your favourite? Let us know in the comments!