After “retiring” this summer, Tim Kuniskis is back at Stellantis to head the Ram brand once more.
It was only seven months ago that company veteran and former Dodge and Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis announced his retirement from the company. Now, he’s back at Ram, according to a new report first published by CNBC citing two people familar with the decision. According to that same report, Kuniskis is taking on the role with immediate effect.
His return is a dramatic change within Stellantis, as the automaker has already seen its fair share of shakeups over the past several months — including global CEO Carlos Tavares’ departure just over a week ago. Chris Feuell, who is currently Chrysler’s CEO, was also supposed to helm Ram trucks, but that will obviously no longer be the case with Tim Kuniskis’ return to the company.
Prior to his retirement, Kuniskis led the Ram brand since mid-2023, and the muscle car enthusiast-focused Dodge brand since 2013. He’s considered the main figure behind Dodge’s revival as a quintessential muscle car brand, with the iconic SRT Hellcat models and its derivatives such as the Demon emerging under his tenure. In the same vein, he also launched the Hellcat-powered Ram 1500 TRX back in 2020. He won’t return to Dodge this time around, however, as that brand launches its first electric muscle car (alongside a gas-powered ‘Sixpack’ model) under Matt McAlear, who Stellantis named to head Dodge after Kuniskis’ former retirement on June 1.
Stellantis did confirm the move with CNBC after it initially broke the news, saying, “Today’s changes will enable us to operate in a structure that will drive the best outcomes for the region, unlock significant potential and win in the market. A main lever is for the Ram brand to have its CEO singularly focused on that brand.” (On a side note, Chris Feuell will head up both Chrysler and Alfa Romeo, as she’ll replace Larry Dominique over at that brand.)
Beyond the company’s fairly dry statement concerning Kuniskis’ return, he is an obvious choice given he oversaw some of the biggest launches in both Dodge and Ram’s recent histories. He’s also generally beloved by enthusiasts because of the proliferation of Hemi V8s in pretty much everything — or at least everything die-hards cared about — over the past decade. Ram could use a little bit of Kuniskis’ razzle-dazzle at the moment, as the brand’s sales were down 24% year-over-year through the end of Q3 in September. Much like Dodge, Ram is also slated to launch its first all-electric truck, the Ram 1500 REV, next year, as well as the Ramcharger.
Will his return herald a return of the TRX in some form, as a follow-up to the RHO and a refreshed rival to the Ford F-150 Raptor R? With all the shaking and moving we’ve been seeing in the industry, especially around electrification, we can’t rule anything out. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens over the coming months.
