The modern-day Dodge Challenger has been in production since the 2008 model year. That makes the current model around 12 years old. It hasn’t stopped Dodge from fine-tuning the big two-door muscle car, adding powertrains along the way, and updating the suspension so that very little of 2008 car remains left. However, a lot of Dodge fans are dying to know when we will be seeing an all-new Dodge Challenger model hitting dealer showrooms.
According to some of our sources within the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the current Challenger is here to stay well into the 2023 model year. Our sources are saying that the Dodge product managers are looking at even running production of the current Dodge Challenger alongside the next-generation Dodge Challenger for a few months at least at the Brampton Assembly Plant in Brampton, Ontario. Of course, this wouldn’t be until the 2023 production model year.
This isn’t a huge surprise, FCA has been doing similar things in recent years with popular vehicles like the Wrangler (JK) and is still doing so with the Ram 1500 Classic (DS).
We are still hearing talk about a new road course Challenger ACR to be coming later this year. So there is no doubt that the Dodge//SRT engineering team still have a lot going on with the current Dodge Challenger (LA) platform. They have already showed us what they can do with vehicles like the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and 2020 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, so we expect them to continue to lead America’s muscle car revolution.
With sales of 63,038 units between the U.S. and Canada last year, the Challenger outsold the Chevrolet Camaro by 12,537 units in both countries. That would put the bigger Dodge two-door muscle car in a solid second place in the sales category. So the Challenger isn’t losing any steam as it gets older.
The next-generation Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger are expected to be coming off the line of the Brampton Assembly Plant in the fourth-quarter of 2022. The Chrysler 300 will not be extending its life after the 2022 model year. Two more vehicles are expected to join Challenger and Charger at Brampton in the future, one being the new midsize Charger-themed rear-wheel-drive/all-wheel-drive muscle UV.
