Brampton Pressures Stellantis to Reopen Factory by Rezoning Land

• The Brampton city council has rezoned the land where the Brampton Assembly Plant sits, with the plot now dedicated to vehicle manufacturing.
• The move is an attempt to pressure Stellantis to create a new plan for the plant and save roughly 3000 unionized jobs.
• The plant was supposed to retool to build the next-generation Compass, but Stellantis switched its plans in 2025, leaving Brampton in limbo.

Brampton Assembly in Ontario, Canada, churned out hundreds of thousands of Dodge Chargers and Challengers for nearly 20 years, but when Dodge redesigned the Charger for 2024 with an electric powertrain, production of the muscle car shifted to Stellantis' Windsor factory. And after Stellantis switched production of the next-generation Compass to the United States in response to the Trump administration's import tariffs, the Brampton plant was left idle. But now the local government is putting pressure on Stellantis to figure out a plan for the plant and get its employees back to work.

Dodge Challengers being assembled at Brampton.

On February 25, the Brampton city council voted unanimously to rezone the land on which the Brampton Assembly Plant sits to be designated solely for vehicle production and related manufacturing, as reported by Automotive News. The land was previously zoned for general industrial use, which would have made it easier for Stellantis to sell the property for redevelopment. With the land now restricted to vehicle manufacturing, Brampton hopes that this will incentivize Stellantis to bring a new vehicle to the factory.

"If Stellantis thinks they can go and build condos there, they can fly a kite. This is for auto jobs," Brampton mayor Patrick Brown said during the council session, Automotive News reports.

When production ended of the Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger, and related Chrysler 300 in December 2023, the assembly lines became idle. Stellantis announced a plan to retool the factory over the next two years in preparation for the next-generation Jeep Compass, but in February 2025, all work at Brampton was halted.

The next-generation Jeep Compass was originally supposed to be built at the Brampton factory.

By October, Stellantis decided that the third-generation Compass—which is already being built in Italy for the European market—would instead be built for the U.S. market in Belvidere, Illinois. The switch was the result of tariffs implemented by the Trump administration on imported vehicles and led to the Compass being delayed; the new compact SUV isn't likely to begin production at Belvidere until late 2027.

The move left Brampton in a lurch, with no product to build and no future plans announced, putting around 3000 unionized auto workers in limbo. While Stellantis has continually said that it has plans for the Brampton factory, nothing has been announced.

Vito Beato, the president of Unifor Local 1285, argues that the change to the zoning protects the plant and gives its workers hope that Stellantis will "step up" and commit to a new vehicle at Brampton. "The history that that plant has given us, it's generational," he said, according to AN. "This is personal for us. That's our livelihood."

In a statement to Car and Driver, a Stellantis spokesperson said that "Stellantis shares the City of Brampton's interest in preserving the Brampton Assembly Plant as an automotive manufacturing site." The company also explained that "protecting good manufacturing jobs remains a top priority" and promised "we are actively evaluating future product opportunities for the facility to ensure that any potential investment is sustainable and supports a long‑term commitment to our employees, suppliers, and the broader community."

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Caleb Miller

Associate News Editor

Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.