Tim Kuniskis to Lead Stellantis American Brands as SRT Returns

Tim Kuniskis to Lead Stellantis American Brands as SRT Returns​

SRT Revived as Stellantis Unites Performance Under One Roof​

Stellantis just made a major move in North America. Tim Kuniskis, the longtime Dodge and Ram boss known for his passion and performance-first mindset, has been appointed to a new role: Head of American Brands and North America Marketing and Retail Strategy. In this expanded position, Kuniskis will report directly to Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa and will be in charge of strengthening the connection between Stellantis’ American brands and their customers, while still continuing as CEO of the Ram brand.

Tim Kuniskis to Lead Stellantis American Brands as SRT Returns

Tim Kuniskis appointed to lead Stellantis American Brands as SRT returns, focusing on strengthening brand connections and products.

moparinsiders.com

 

[TripleT]

Street and Racing Technology has nothing to do with off roading Jeeps.
More on.

RT - Road and Track
SRT - Street and Racing Technology

if we exclude Jeep. Charger, Durango, and Pacifica.... ONLY? oh that wouldn't be fun.

Racing can be dirt and desert also.

 

[HuJass]

Street and Racing Technology has nothing to do with off roading Jeeps.
More on.

The GC Trackhawk wasn't an offroad Jeep.

 

[patfromigh]

The replacement for the GC Trackhawk is the Wagoneer S. The Wagoneer S is a victim of poor timing, finalized as a battery electric only model and then introduced just as the bloom had faded for EV market demand.

My suggestion will upset the IC engine purists, but the solution is adding an ICE range extender. Both Magna and ZF offer 800V EREV setups. An EREV only needs a quarter of the batteries that an equivalent BEV uses. If the SRT people can't make that work, outsource the project.

For a more traditional SRT IC combustion powertrain, use the platform mate, the Cherokee.

 

[scatpack_69]

Please keep Jeep out of the SRT line up

Ok, but why? Original Grand Cherokee SRT8 was the quickest SUV in the world. Trackhawk was that and then some. Amazing vehicles and one of the better SRT applications

 

[Mopar392]

The replacement for the GC Trackhawk is the Wagoneer S. The Wagoneer S is a victim of poor timing, finalized as a battery electric only model and then introduced just as the bloom had faded for EV market demand.

My suggestion will upset the IC engine purists, but the solution is adding an ICE range extender. Both Magna and ZF offer 800V EREV setups. An EREV only needs a quarter of the batteries that an equivalent BEV uses. If the SRT people can't make that work, outsource the project.

For a more traditional SRT IC combustion powertrain, use the platform mate, the Cherokee.

Turn the Wagoneer S beautiful design into an SRT with a V8 and see how its sales going to be.

 

[TripleT]

Turn the Wagoneer S beautiful design into an SRT with a V8 and see how its sales going to be.

its the wrong version of the STLA Large. Add a motor to let it take gas, small battery, and same drivetrain.

 

[patfromigh]

The Toyota Grand Highlander has two different hybrid systems. The first one is the legacy hybrid with an e-axle while a second hybrid system is the Hybrid Max. The Max uses an Aisin 6-speed auto with an e-motor replacing the torque converter. This transmission is combined with a 2.4 four cylinder turbo, plus there is a rear drive axle from the BZ. It is much more potent than the standard Toyota hybrid e-axles. Total system output is 360hp. Neither of the Grand Highlander hybrid setups plug in and their battery packs are just the basic Toyota Hybrid size. (The Hybrid Max found in Toyota pickups is totally different.)

If Auburn Hills wants to get there money's worth out of the EV investments they have made, they should copy what Toyota did with the Hybrid Max systems in the Crown and Grand Highlander, and stuff the EV rear drive into the back of a hybrid. BTW, the 6-speed automatic with a single e-motor that the Toyota Max hybrids use is what the Stellantis plugin hybrid models in Europe used before the Punch. The Aisin one is the superior unit.

The Tonale and Hornet plugin hybrids also use the Aisin 6-speed, but I think that one has a torque converter. The Tonale and Hornet use a vendor-supplied rear e-axle as does the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. While it seems to be a great setup, it is pricey. Perhaps a decent Hornet replacement should use the Aisin single e-motor transmission with a turbo four in the front and whatever the Auburn Hills engineers cook up for their dual motor battery electric drives in the rear.

 

[Foncool]

Good for CDJR, just keep him away from Maserati and Alfa, it’s because of him and Bigland that they’re such bad shape today. They literally destroyed both brands.

 

[scatpack_69]

Good for CDJR, just keep him away from Maserati and Alfa, it’s because of him and Bigland that they’re such bad shape today. They literally destroyed both brands.

That’s a lie. Both have been on life support for….well forever. Bringing them Stateside as part of the merger was never going to work, neither company makes anything that Americans want. Nothing.

And they aren’t Mopars, and never will be. We don’t accept them

 

[vbondjr1]

In a previous comment, I mapped out, what I thought of course, a workable solution for a few insanely powerful SRT4 and SRT6 Variants utilizing a high output version of the Hurricane-4 2.0L Turbocharged Inline-4, the High output Hurricane-6 3.0L Twin Turbo I-6 engine along with the new Hybrid versions of the 8HP ZF Gen-4 gearboxes. I gave a guestimate figure that a hybrid 4-cylinder turbo with the 8HP EVO transmission at full power could potentially see 598hp with 793lb-ft of torque while the high-output Hurricane-6 could see horsepower numbers of around 818hp with nearly 975lb-ft of torque. There have been post on here stating that the Jeep brand should not have anything to do with SRT and I say that it would a serious oversight if Jeep did not receive SRT models on the upcoming Jeep Recon, the Jeep Wagoneer S, the Jeep Gladiator, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and the full size Jeep Wagoneer. Now that I have your attention, let me explain what I mean.

1.) The Jeep Recon: An SRT4 Recon with that 598hp Turbo-4 Hybrid setup would be a direct competitor to the Land Rover Defender 110 OCTA. While the Land Rover would have more horsepower and of course the sound of a V8, An SRT4 Recon with 598hp and 793lb-ft of torque should be a bit faster than the Defender or at least very competitive with the Land Rovers' 626hp and 553lb-ft of torque.

2.) Wagoneer S. The Electric version is already supposedly faster than a Trackhawk (by the hair of a snail's tooth). If that's the case, what would an 818hp SRT6 Wagoneer S be if it were unleashed on the streets? We've already seen people push Trackhawks to over 800hp with simple bolt-on parts and a tune and the STLA LArge is supposed to be a superior platform when compared to the older vehicles. The Wagoneer S already positions itself as a more blacktop oriented vehicle so it would make sense to enhance this vehicle over lets say the Cherokee or Grand Cherokee as a top-tier performer.

3.) The Wagoneer: Cadillac threw down the gauntlet with the Escalade V Blackwing and it's time someone answered it. Being that this is an STLA Frame vehicle, there's no excuse to not let all of the V8 eagles sing and let freedom ring to the tune of a 1,000hp 426ci Supercharged Hellephant 7.0L V8 engine. The crazier part about that is the fact that we live in a world where 1,000hp trucks and vehicles already exist. What's even cooler is that Jeep could have the 1,000hp SRT8 Hellephant Wagoneer and an 818hp SRT6 Wagoneer and both would be amazing.

4.) Jeep Gladiator & Wrangler Unlimited SRT: Off-Road Performance vehicles are an interesting bunch. Especially when you consider vehicles like the Ford Bronco Raptor, the Ranger Raptor and those vehicles from Toyota under the TRD off road umbrella. I'm going to focus on the vehicles built by our American brethren over at Ford with the Raptor names on them. The Bronco and Ranger raptor have just over 400hp and a decent amount of torque from their 3.0L twin turbo V6 engines which would technically put them right at the level of power that the 3.0L Hurricane S/O puts out (420hp/468lb-ft of torque). The "Racing Technology" in this SRT vehicle would come more from what the team at Ram have learned with the RHO and TRX pickup trucks, making the Gladiator and Wrangler more stable at speeds on all terrain plus equipping them with more aggressive styling, beautiful performance interiors, and things of that nature.

Now don't get me wrong, I truly get that most people just want to see SRT go back to being big V8s with big power and I truly feel that it's a major part of what makes the Mopar brand cool. Trust me, the thought of a new SRT8 Charger with a 1,000hp Hellephant 426ci V8 under the hood with AWD would be insanely awesome to see along side of this upcoming rumored twin turbo V10 viper. But that's only one part of SRT. Jeep and Ram both offer amazing platforms for SRT, especially with the new technology we have. I for one definitely want to see the return of the street performance Ram pickup trucks with V8's, including an 840hp Ram 1500 SRT8 Daytona with a 6.2L v8 and a 1,000hp Ram SRT8 Hellephant pickup to dominate the streets again like they did before. I'd love to see an 818hp Ram SRT6 Rumble Bee pickup as well as a 598hp Dakota SRT4 and an STLA Large 598hp Rampage SRT4 pickup. It is time to bring SRT back to the mix. SRT4, SRT6, SRT8 and SRT10.

BTW: All SRT4 vehicles should have crossplane crankshafts
****Happy Independence Day Everyone!!!!!*********

 

[Foncool]

That’s a lie. Both have been on life support for….well forever. Bringing them Stateside as part of the merger was never going to work, neither company makes anything that Americans want. Nothing.

And they aren’t Mopars, and never will be. We don’t accept them

Maserati was operating at a 13+% margin without an SUV, within 6 months of Marchionne putting Bigland in charge of Maserati their margins dropped to under 3% with an SUV, Kuniskis just exasperated the problem when he replaced Bigland. Neither understood the brand or its customers , appointing any CDJR dealer with a halfway decent balance sheet with Maserati/Alfa franchises. Their typical mindset of if you appoint more dealers and over saturate a market area you’ll sell more cars. These dealers only know how to sell on price. The net result was it destroyed the profitability of the long time dealers in the market area. Again there was a reason that Daimler never merged their Mercedes network with Chrysler’s.

BTW Maserati was in the North American market long before the latest Chrysler bankruptcy, they were dualed with Ferrari and profitable long before the Obama administration had to beg FIAT to save Chrysler when no other manufacturer would go anywhere near it.

 

[TripleT]

Someone has assigned a false correlation that follow other marker changes…..

 

[Mopar426]

Thing is they "use" all the brands to make one full line up of vehicles. What use to be covered under one brand umbrella, cars, trucks, SUV's, off road etc they now do with a handful of brands. In this case its fine to use SRT as the performance arm for all of them. I probably wouldn't slap the SRT badge on all of them like it use to be as Trackhawk, TRX etc have good equity now but by all means keep "by SRT" "powered by SRT" etc.

 

[Mopar426]

Maserati was operating at a 13+% margin without an SUV, within 6 months of Marchionne putting Bigland in charge of Maserati their margins dropped to under 3% with an SUV, Kuniskis just exasperated the problem when he replaced Bigland. Neither understood the brand or its customers , appointing any CDJR dealer with a halfway decent balance sheet with Maserati/Alfa franchises. Their typical mindset of if you appoint more dealers and over saturate a market area you’ll sell more cars. These dealers only know how to sell on price. The net result was it destroyed the profitability of the long time dealers in the market area. Again there was a reason that Daimler never merged their Mercedes network with Chrysler’s.

BTW Maserati was in the North American market long before the latest Chrysler bankruptcy, they were dualed with Ferrari and profitable long before the Obama administration had to beg FIAT to save Chrysler when no other manufacturer would go anywhere near it.

Yeah but they only sold 50 cars a year back then. To keep those margins with real volume would mean copying Mercedes / BMW / Audi in dealer network, dealer experience and brand portfolio. FCA never had the money to pull that off, Stellantis doesn't either.

 

[scatpack_69]

Again there was a reason that Daimler never merged their Mercedes network with Chrysler’s.

Well, you’re correct on one thing…

When an alien predator is bent on world domination regardless of evil, they don’t join with the group they’re overtaking. Much like the aliens in Independence Day, when the captured one said “no peace”….seems a rather German thing

Mercedes had one thing in their mind, and that was all the money in the bank. They milked Chrysler dry, took every penny they had, and dumped the carcass. I’ll remind you, Chrysler was financially one of the better car companies on the planet in the ‘99’s

Yes, Maserati as well as Alfa were here before. And they were known as garbage. That’s why they left, no one wanted them, a fact that remains today. So, Bigland and Kuniskis are to blame? No dude, piss poor product and a sour reputation are to blame.

If you saw a Maserati in America, especially running, you’d better go buy a lotto ticket, you just saw a unicorn

 

[Foncool]

Well, you’re correct on one thing…

When an alien predator is bent on world domination regardless of evil, they don’t join with the group they’re overtaking. Much like the aliens in Independence Day, when the captured one said “no peace”….seems a rather German thing

Mercedes had one thing in their mind, and that was all the money in the bank. They milked Chrysler dry, took every penny they had, and dumped the carcass. I’ll remind you, Chrysler was financially one of the better car companies on the planet in the ‘99’s

Yes, Maserati as well as Alfa were here before. And they were known as garbage. That’s why they left, no one wanted them, a fact that remains today. So, Bigland and Kuniskis are to blame? No dude, piss poor product and a sour reputation are to blame.

If you saw a Maserati in America, especially running, you’d better go buy a lotto ticket, you just saw a unicorn

Wow talk about drinking the Auburn Hills Kool-Aid. Trying to use a Scifi movie as an analogy? FYI Daimler took a 26+ BILLION DOLLAR loss to rid themselves of Chrysler.

You really should study your history something that Marchionne didn’t do, separately both Maserati and Alfa entered into agreements with Chrysler to sell Maseratis and Alfas through the Chrysler network in the late 80s/early 90s. The end result was by the mid 90s both had to pull out of the North American market.

So are Maseratis garbage because they have too many Chrysler parts in them or not enough?

 

[TripleT]

Wow talk about drinking the Auburn Hills Kool-Aid. Trying to use a Scifi movie as an analogy? FYI Daimler took a 26+ BILLION DOLLAR loss to rid themselves of Chrysler.

You really should study your history something that Marchionne didn’t do, separately both Maserati and Alfa entered into agreements with Chrysler to sell Maseratis and Alfas through the Chrysler network in the late 80s/early 90s. The end result was by the mid 90s both had to pull out of the North American market.

So are Maseratis garbage because they have too many Chrysler parts in them or not enough?

Mercedes stole Chryslers cash reserves in a failed attempt to acquire Mitsubishi, while in the midst of a major emission scandal. It wasn't merger, it was a hostile take over, the German punked pitiful Bob Eaton into. Then went on to act the PE group to Chrysler.... penny pinching the product into pure crap.

Painting them as anything but the villain in the story is so revisionist smacking of some sort of Euro-centric fan fiction. If Daimler lost money on it crooked dealing I would do a happy dance, but as it is they were only out the money they stole adjusted for inflation, and left Chrysler as a rotting corpse to be auctioned off to highest bidder.

Trying to blame Chrysler for the decisions to come late to CUV party and end it relationship with Ferrari is on the Italians, no matter what false correlations you found. A nearly bankrupt Porsche in the same time period became the VW most valuable brand.

Now let me give you some ammunition back, The salvage plan for NA did set the Alfa product plan back 18 to 24 months and another 9 month mid Implementation. Now that has had extreme domino effect on Alfa. Just made worst by Pepe LeCheapskate using Hornet components in the Tonale instead of the Phase 3 lighten components planned under SM, making it a more pedestrian and less exotic then planned.

Maserati and Alfa are now suffering under a Spanish national design language and Silly plan to go EV only, and the loss of the technical partnership with Ferrari, None of which have anything to do with Auburn hill.

Sell you fan fiction somewhere else.

 

[WXman]

People like to talk trash about "TK's Garage" on YouTube, but the guy has been spot-on with information he's been leaking for the last 9 months. The guy seems like a punk, but his track record with information has been stellar. And this weekend he said in a video that "SRT vehicles will be V8 only".

Now obviously things at CDJR are very fluid right now as they are trying to get things back on track and save the ship. So that could change. But it sounds like at this time they are wanting to keep SRT special by NOT dilluting those vehicles with powertrains that buyers clearly have stated they don't want.

 

[patfromigh]

The Americans took a Jeep model and basically slapped an ugly Alfa Romeo grill on it. No wait, I have that wrong, it was the European management. They took the Jeep Avenger and badge engineered it into the Alfa Junior. Guess what, it's Alfa Romeo's best selling model. They also stuck a 3 cylinder PSA motor in it for the IC engine option.

 

[TripleT]

The Americans took a Jeep model and basically slapped an ugly Alfa Romeo grill on it. No wait, I have that wrong, it was the European management. They took the Jeep Avenger and badge engineered it into the Alfa Junior. Guess what, it's Alfa Romeo's best selling model. They also stuck a 3 cylinder PSA motor in it for the IC engine option.

Its worst than that, they took a Dongfeng model, reworked it into a Peugeot, then into a Jeep... And then into the ugliest Alfa Romeo in the history of brand.

Best selling because it CHEAP crap, devaluing the entire brand. Chinese, French, Polish, Spanish, and a bad Italian knock off dress is just low margin crap.

At least the Jeep is dress appropriately.