Stellantis is reportedly considering closing and selling its idled Brampton Assembly plant in Ontario, the factory that built the final Hemi-powered Dodge Charger and Challenger before both nameplates went on hiatus. Stellantis has not confirmed a closure. The information comes from Unifor, the union representing the plant’s roughly 2,200 laid-off workers, not from a company announcement.
What Unifor says, and what Stellantis has said back
According to a statement Unifor published on August 14, 2026, Stellantis notified the union on August 12 that it intends to enter discussions with another company about a potential sale of Brampton Assembly. The statement is signed by Unifor National President Lana Payne, Stellantis Council Chair James Stewart, and Local 1285 President Vito Beato, who called the plant’s fate “a gut punch” for the more than 2,200 members who have been on layoff since December 2023, according to CP24’s coverage of the union’s remarks.
Stellantis, for its part, has stopped short of confirming any closure or sale plan. In comments reported by Yahoo Finance, the company said it is “preparing to enter the collective bargaining process and have nothing to announce at this time,” adding that its “focus remains on finding a sustainable manufacturing solution for Brampton Assembly.” Under the union’s collective agreement, Stellantis is required to give at least one year’s notice before any closure or sale — a notice period Unifor says has not yet been triggered.
The plant that built the last Hemi Charger and Challenger
Brampton Assembly’s most recent chapter as a muscle-car plant ended on December 22, 2023, when the final 2023 Dodge Challenger — an SRT Demon 170 finished in Pitch Black, packing a supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8 rated at 1,025 horsepower — rolled off the line, as documented by Yahoo Autos’ coverage of the milestone. Stellantis design chief Ralph Gilles said at the time that the Charger and Challenger’s run had “exceeded all of our expectations.” Over nearly 20 years, the L-platform Charger and Challenger built at Brampton totaled more than 4.3 million units combined.
The plant was idled immediately after that final Challenger for what was supposed to be a retooling into production of the next-generation Jeep Compass electric SUV. That retooling stalled in February 2025, and in October 2025 Stellantis announced Compass production would move to the United States instead, leaving Brampton indefinitely idle with no replacement product assigned. Unifor argues that relocation breaches both its collective agreement and commitments Stellantis made in exchange for federal and provincial government funding tied to the original retooling plan. The next-generation Charger and Challenger, meanwhile, are being built on the STLA Large platform at Stellantis’s Windsor Assembly plant elsewhere in Ontario — meaning Brampton’s specific run of Hemi-powered muscle cars is over regardless of what happens to the building itself.
What’s actually at stake
Nothing here is finalized. Stellantis’s own language points to ongoing talks, not a signed deal, and the one-year notice clause means any formal closure process would take time to play out even if a sale does move forward. But for the roughly 2,200 workers who have already gone more than two and a half years without a product to build, a confirmed sale to an outside company would mark the definitive end of Brampton’s era as a Stellantis muscle-car plant — the building that turned out the last naturally aspirated and supercharged Hemi V8s before Dodge’s V8 lineup moved elsewhere in the corporate footprint.