Product Plans

Chrysler Group's Brampton, Ont., Canada, plant is the logical site to build the all-new Dodge Challenger, but the decision is not a done deal.

Chrysler Group President and CEO Tom LaSorda says the OEM has four plants flexible enough to build the Challenger, which shares the rear-wheel-drive LX platform used for the Chrysler 300 Series, Dodge Charger and Magnum.

The CEO singles out four flexible car plants as candidates: Brampton; St. Louis South; Sterling Heights, MI; and Toluca, Mexico.

The obvious choice is Brampton, although the plant is running flat out on three shifts. Chief Operating Officer Eric Ridenour says the Challenger is not due for a few more years, and product plan changes could make room.

The Challenger launches in April 2008 as an '08 model.

Another candidate is St. Louis South, a plant being retooled for Chrysler's next-generation Chrysler Pacifica and all-new minivans, which go into production next summer as '08 models.

Sterling Heights also can handle four different vehicles — and currently only three are scheduled: the new Chrysler Sebring sedan and coupe and the Dodge Stratus replacement.

The fourth plant, and least likely, is Toluca. It also is a flex plant capable of building the next-generation PT Cruiser.

The Challenger likely will be offered with a choice of a V-6; 5.7L Hemi V-8 and performance 6.1L Hemi V-8.

Chrysler is not saying if a manual transmission will be offered, but that decision has been made, tight-lipped officials confirm. There will be no convertible model.

Meanwhile, defining the direction of the Chrysler brand is key to determining the feasibility of building the LX-based Chrysler Imperial concept.

Ridenour says the decision will be between now and the end of the year.

“There are several things we're trying to do with the vehicle,” Ridenour says. “We need a distinctive statement and (the) Imperial does that.”

Furthermore, a decision on whether to put the Chrysler Firepower roadster into production must factor in the fate of the current Chrysler Crossfire, LaSorda says.

Chrysler must weigh the advantages of an all-new vehicle, along with the fact the Crossfire has seen supply outstrip demand to the point where an '06 model is not being offered in the U.S.

When it comes to a vehicle like the Firepower, “emotion says do it,” LaSorda says, but emotion must be “put aside in doing the business case.”

With many concepts under consideration for production, Chrysler must resist the idea of “first to the trough gets it,” he says, noting there is not a bottomless pit of capital to spend.

A decision on Firepower is due by the third quarter.