There’s a brand new CEO in cost at Stellantis, and he’s bringing again the racing division that developed the supercharged Hellcat V8.
Antonio Filosa, who took cost of the French-Italian-American automotive conglomerate in late June, has been slowly asserting his government and senior administration workforce.
He has promoted Tim Kuniskis, at the moment head of Ram, to supervise all of its North American manufacturers, which additionally embody Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler.
Mr Kuniskis may even head up the revived Road and Racing Expertise (SRT) division that was shuttered in 2021 not lengthy after Fiat Chrysler merged with the PSA Group — dad or mum of Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall — to type Stellantis.
SRT will as soon as once more be put in command of engineering efficiency fashions for all 4 North American marques. It is going to additionally take over Stellantis North America’s racing operations, which embody drag racing and, beginning subsequent yr, the NASCAR Truck Sequence.
In its previous life SRT made autos just like the Dodge Neon SRT-4, in addition to the V10-powered Dodge Viper. Its most up-to-date efforts had been concentrated across the 6.2-litre supercharged Hellcat V8 engine, which was put in within the Dodge Charger sedan and Challenger coupe, Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, and Ram 1500 TRX.
The division additionally labored its magic on much less fire-breathing V8 fashions, together with these used within the Chrysler 300.
Though the SRT division was disbanded in 2021, the corporate continued to develop the Hellcat engine up till the demise of the third-generation Dodge Challenger and seventh-generation Dodge Charger. The Hellcat troopers on to today below the bonnet of the Dodge Durango Hellcat.
No plans for SRT have been introduced up to now, but it surely’s extensively hoped it would attempt to discover a approach to insert V8 Hellcat engine into the brand new Charger coupe and sedan, that are at the moment solely out there with electrical drivetrains and turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six Hurricane petrol engine.
Hopes have been raised since Mr Kuniskis returned to run Ram in late 2024. In June he introduced the 5.7-litre Hemi V8 would return the 1500 ute vary after year-or-so away.
“Everybody makes errors, however the way you deal with them defines you. Ram screwed up after we dropped the Hemi — we personal it and we fastened it,” he stated at announcement.
This week announcement of SRT’s revival and the elevation of Mr Kuniskis to supervise Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler is an actual back-to-the-future second. Mr Kuniskis held an identical position in 2014 when these manufacturers had been a part of Fiat Chrysler, and is extensively credited with championing the Hellcat V8 undertaking.
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