SRT IS BACK, BUT IS IT ENOUGH TO REV STELLANTIS?

A HIGH-OCTANE INJECTION OF NEW PRODUCTS IS ON THE WAY

- By Alisa Priddle

You can argue the North American brands under Stellantis have been defanged in recent years. Under former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares' leadership, Ram trucks lost their V-8s, Jeep lost volume models and failed to launch promised new ones in a timely manner, Chrysler subsists today on minivans alone, and Dodge slow-walked the rollout of its new muscle cars.

Now there's a new sheriff in town, as Antonio Filosa, a man more sympathetic to North American demands, is the new CEO. And Stellantis brought back retired Tim Kuniskis, a man with petrol and adrenaline commingled in his veins and who had ridden off into the sunset not long ago, in June 2024.

With the personnel moves came a series of quick announcements: Hellcat godfather and Ram CEO Kuniskis was promoted to spread his enthusiasm and supercharge all American products; he is now head of American brands and North America marketing and retail strategy for Stellantis while retaining his role as Ram CEO.

Under his guidance, the 2026 Ram 1500 can now be ordered with the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 as an option, but the bigger-picture news is that Stellantis is bringing back the Street and Racing Technology (SRT) division to unify high-performance efforts at Dodge, Ram, Jeep, and Chrysler. Kuniskis will run this, too.

SRT's revival is guaranteed to crank the driveshafts of performance junkies and the Mopar faithful alike. It means factory-built horsepower along with street- and track-engineering prowess. Bringing back SRT is designed to jump-start the revitalization of the North American products and restore Stellantis' vitality in the region, where sales, market share, and profits have fallen, trust has been lost, and morale has eroded.