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Tim Kuniskis has announced his decision to retire from the position of CEO at Dodge and Ram, after a 32-year tenure with the company. He will officially pass on the reigns starting June 1, with Chrysler CEO Christine Feuell taking over for Ram, while Dodge sales executive Matt McAlear takes charge of the muscle car brand.
Kuniskis is widely known for being the creator of the Hellcat V8, and for his influence in giving Dodge the muscle car image it has today. When he became the head of Dodge back in 2011, the brand was fresh out of reviving the legendary Charger and Challenger nameplates, so he continued the job with a host of new performance variants, colors, and styling packages with names harkening back to the brand's history.
Over time, Kuniskis became responsible for monsters such as the 707-hp Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat from 2015, along with more recent examples such as the 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX, 840-hp Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, and Hellcat-powered variants of the Dodge Durango. Last year, the release of the ballistic 1,025-hp Challenger Demon 170 served as a fitting goodbye to all of the insane creations brought to life within the past decade.
While most of Kuniskis's time was spent creating V8-powered muscle cars, his most recent moves have revolved around electrification under the demands of parent company Stellantis. He oversaw the dozens of Last Call models signaling the end of the V8-powered Charger and Challenger, along with the introduction of the new Charger with six-cylinder and fully-electric powertrain options. Over at Ram, he became involved in the introduction of the battery-powered 1500 REV, along with the Ramcharger plug-in hybrid.
While the departure of Kuniskis and all of his work will leave things quite empty at Dodge, we expect more exciting performance models based on the new six-cylinder Charger and its electric Charger Daytona sibling in the neat future.
Image Credits: Dodge
Report
May 27, 2024
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Dodge And Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis Retires As Hellcat Era Comes To An End
Kuniskis's departure coincides with the end of the V8-powered era that he started.
Tim Kuniskis has announced his decision to retire from the position of CEO at Dodge and Ram, after a 32-year tenure with the company. He will officially pass on the reigns starting June 1, with Chrysler CEO Christine Feuell taking over for Ram, while Dodge sales executive Matt McAlear takes charge of the muscle car brand.
Kuniskis is widely known for being the creator of the Hellcat V8, and for his influence in giving Dodge the muscle car image it has today. When he became the head of Dodge back in 2011, the brand was fresh out of reviving the legendary Charger and Challenger nameplates, so he continued the job with a host of new performance variants, colors, and styling packages with names harkening back to the brand's history.
Over time, Kuniskis became responsible for monsters such as the 707-hp Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat from 2015, along with more recent examples such as the 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX, 840-hp Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, and Hellcat-powered variants of the Dodge Durango. Last year, the release of the ballistic 1,025-hp Challenger Demon 170 served as a fitting goodbye to all of the insane creations brought to life within the past decade.
While most of Kuniskis's time was spent creating V8-powered muscle cars, his most recent moves have revolved around electrification under the demands of parent company Stellantis. He oversaw the dozens of Last Call models signaling the end of the V8-powered Charger and Challenger, along with the introduction of the new Charger with six-cylinder and fully-electric powertrain options. Over at Ram, he became involved in the introduction of the battery-powered 1500 REV, along with the Ramcharger plug-in hybrid.
While the departure of Kuniskis and all of his work will leave things quite empty at Dodge, we expect more exciting performance models based on the new six-cylinder Charger and its electric Charger Daytona sibling in the neat future.
Image Credits: Dodge
