The Challenger, which was presented as a concept car just over a year ago at the Detroit Auto Show, will do battle in the marketplace against the long-established Ford Mustang and the revived Chevrolet Camaro, which General Motors has said will be made in Oshawa, Ont., and be in showrooms by 2009.

Chrysler said last summer it would build the Challenger but until Tuesday evening had not confirmed the assembly site, although Brampton was seen as the logical choice because the car shares its basic rear-wheel-drive architecture with the 300, Charger and Magnum.

Production will begin barely two years after the presentation of the concept, and Brampton will be the first Chrysler Group plant assembling four separate models.

""Quickly bringing desirable new products such as the Dodge Challenger to market is critical to keeping our plants humming and our dealerships busy,"" stated

DaimlerChrysler Canada CEO Reid Bigland.

Chrysler's other Canadian assembly complex, in Windsor, Ont., produces Dodge and Chrysler minivans and the Chrysler Pacifica crossover.

Despite worries about fuel costs and global warming, Chrysler says there has been""passionate response"" to the Challenger, and 20,000 potential customers have asked for information about the car, which will be available with the company's trademark Hemi V-8 engine.

The Challenger reincarnates a concept and nameplate that flamed out in 1974 amid high fuel and insurance costs. Those Challengers now are sought-after collectibles.

The Challenger name returned from 1978 until 1983, applied to a four-cylinder coupe made by Mitsubishi of Japan.

DaimlerChrysler credited the choice of Ontario as the source of the new Challenger partly to the provincial government's ""strong support for the Brampton assembly plant through its contribution to the plant-wide third shift training program that was essential to the successful launch of the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Magnum.""

With the added volume, looks like Brampton will be spared any cuts.

Despite worries about fuel costs and global warming, Chrysler says there has been""passionate response"" to the Challenger, and 20,000 potential customers have asked for information about the car, which will be available with the company's trademark Hemi V-8 engine.

I thought it would be DCX money problems, but global warming?!?!

Just like the original it will be much lower volume

than the Camaro, never mind the Mustang.

Brampton?!?

Brampton?!?

?