Tim Kuniskis, the current CEO of Ram and Dodge, will step down on June 1, Stellantis revealed Friday. Christine Feuell, the CEO of Chrysler, will succeed him at Ram while keeping up her position as head of the company. Matt McAlear will take over as Dodge’s new CEO, succeeding his former role as the company’s sales operations leader.
Kuniskis has worked with Stellantis for more than 30 years. In 1993, he began working in district sales for Chrysler maintenance and components. As director of Chrysler marketing in 2009, he rose to senior manager for dealer operations in 2003. In 2011, he was named president of Fiat in North America.
In 2013, Kuniskis became the first CEO of Dodge. Throughout the 2010s, he had a number of leadership positions as Fiat-Chrysler changed. After enduring the Stellantis merger, he agreed to take the CEO job at Dodge in 2021. In 2023, he expanded his resume to include Ram CEO.
Just as the supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat V-8 engine made its debut in 2014, Kuniskis assumed leadership of the Dodge and SRT brands. With 707 horsepower for the Dodge Charger and Challenger, it redefined performance and began a new era of Detroit’s muscle car manufacturing. Dodge transformed into a pure performance brand under Kuniskis’s direction, eventually adding the Hellcat V-8 to every vehicle in the lineup. His love for the “Brotherhood of Muscle” was strong; this core group of Dodge buyers was infatuated with the Hemi V-8 engine.
Some might say he tied the Hemi with Dodge a little too tightly. His retirement is timed with the end of the V-8 era at both Dodge and Ram. The Challenger is dead, and the new Charger will offer an electric powertrain or a twin-turbocharged inline-six engine. The same goes for Ram, which loses Hemi V-8 options in lieu of the twin-turbo six or the venerable 3.6-liter V-6.
“I want to take the opportunity to warmly thank Tim for his passion, commitment, and contributions to Stellantis and in defining the vision of the future electrified Ram and Dodge brands,” said Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. “I wish him well in his retirement.”
