It was a bittersweet moment at the Ontario plant as 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan in White Knuckle slowly made its way down the assembly line.

For the town of Windsor, Ontario, today, Aug 21, 2020, marked the end of three decades of the nearby Windsor Assembly plant producing America’s best-selling van, the Dodge Grand Caravan. According to Local 444 Unifor in a Facebook post commemorating the epic production run, a White Knuckle Grand Caravan was the Caravan to leave this Windsor plant.

It was the slowest Caravan made in the plant’s history, the assembly line stopping multiple times, as line workers signed a banner attached to the frame, most just pausing to admire a vehicle that literally put bread on the table.

Check out their Facebook post below and click on the photo below to see a news segment by CTV News broadcast earlier today.

Discontinued rumors first popped up four years ago

The writing was on the wall long before today’s last day of Caravan production. As early as 2016, with introducing the Chrysler Pacifica, FCA already had concrete plans to sack the Caravan, but continued to sell the Grand Caravan alongside the Pacifica given how well they were selling.

With seating for 8, a refined V6 Pentastar engine, and a low MSRP around $26,000, FCA was milking a fifth generation platform first introduced in 2007.

In February 2020, FCA aimed to axe Grand Caravan production in May, but Grand Caravans kept coming off the line for another three months.

And in July, Windsor closed a third shift ending a 27-year run, a chunk of production time specifically placed to fill the growing demand for an American minivan.

View this post on Instagram

Last van on Midnights…..for now #builditwindsor

A post shared by Unifor Local444 (@uniforlocal444) on

Failed CAFE Standards

Try to research a 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan and you’ll notice this, a list of 13 states where you can’t buy one. All those states follow California emissions rules, new rules which the Pentastar V6 in these Grand Caravans no longer adheres to.

According to AllPar.com,

While Dodge could have swapped in the PSU at any time over the last few years, it would have required recalibration, retesting, and recertification, on models which few outside of FCA really expected to last this long. Grand Caravan production is slated to end on May 22, according to the Windsor Star; and with it, three shifts at Windsor, at least for the time being.

Leaving behind a gap in the market

Despite not being on sale in over a dozen states, on an ancient platform, Dodge Grand Caravans outsold its more refined and slightly more expensive sibling, the Chrysler Pacifica.

  • 2019 Dodge Caravan U.S. sales – 122.648
  • 2019 Chrysler Pacifica U.S. sales – 97,706

Americans still need vans and FCA already has plans to fill the gap left.

Before Sergio Marchionne’s death, he was on record confirming a replacement for the Grand Caravan built on the Pacifica’s platform.

More than just a van

For the town of Windsor, the Dodge Caravan meant honest work. With the demise of the third shift and just the Chrysler Pacifica and Chrysler Voyager left, these FCA line employees are counting on a Dodge Caravan successor.

According to Local 444’s president,

This van has served our members well! Putting food on our tables, paying for mortgages, putting our children through school and hauling our most precious cargo.

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