Developed during a time when Chrysler and Daimler were joined at the hip, the L platform gave us two sedans, two wagons, and a two-door coupe. Stellantis, namely the automaker resulted from the merger between Fiat Chrysler and Groupe PSA, ended production of the 300 earlier in December.
The Challenger breathed its last breath on December 22. Earlier in the day, Brampton Assembly Plant workers finished the final example of the Charger. According to multiple reports, that final car was a Destroyer Gray-painted Scat Pack Widebody.
Unfortunately for Mopar enthusiasts, there is no picture whatsoever of the final car. Alas, a few screenshots from the Charger's online configurator will have to suffice. Stellpower understands that Chrysler produced 1.8 million Charger sedans between 2005 and 2023, whereas the 300 totaled 1.4 million. All told, more than 4.3 million L-platform vehicles were produced between 2004 and 2023.
The platform's demise allows Stellantis to retool the Brampton Assembly Plant for a new vehicle architecture, namely the STLA Medium platform. The first shift will return to work sometime during the fourth quarter of 2025, meaning that Jeep's next-generation Compass will hit dealer lots for the 2026 model year. STLA Medium premiered in September 2023 with the 2024 Peugeot 3008, which has been confirmed with electric, hybrid, and diesel muscle.
Speaking of multi-energy platforms, the 2025 Dodge Charger is coming late 2024. Or so claims the Dodge brand in a Christmas-themed ad that Dodge uploaded on YouTube at the beginning of December 2023. Rather than the STLA Medium, this fellow is based on an all-new platform referred to as STLA Large.
Photo: Dodge on YouTube
During the Stellantis EV Day, the Italian-American-French automaker confirmed 101 to 118 kWh for the battery and electric drive modules with anything between 70 and 330 kW. Otherwise put, 94 horsepower and 443 horsepower. Only the latter electric drive module can handle 800 volts, an electrical architecture that Dodge has already confirmed for the punchiest version of the Charger.
Given these numbers, you can look forward to more than 800 horsepower from a dual-motor setup. That's not all, though. Leaked pictures of a body in white show an engine bay and a transmission tunnel, which suggests that the next-generation Charger will be offered with internal combustion and the ZF 8HP.
What kind of internal combustion? With the third-gen HEMI going the way of the dodo after the 2024 Ram 1500 ends production in the first quarter of 2024, the only candidate is the Hurricane turbocharged inline-six of the 2025 Ram 1500. Also found in the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, the 3.0-liter mill is more powerful and torquier than the Competition-spec S58 engine of the M3 sedan and M4 coupe.
The biggest surprise, however, is that Dodge has reimagined the Charger as a three-door liftback. The Charger previously sported three doors between 1981 and 1987. That generation of the Charger is – without a shadow of a doubt – the worst one of all time. Not only was it a subcompact, but also FWD.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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