Stellantis exec says European carmaker was ‘anti-American’ when it messed with customers’ ‘freedom of choice’

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Yardbird

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2022
Posts
722
Reaction score
1,536
Location
Western NC
Ram Year
2018
Engine
3.6

Stellantis exec says European carmaker was ‘anti-American’ when it messed with customers’ ‘freedom of choice’​

Story by Ryan Hogg
3 min read


Tim Kuniskis rejoined Stellantis soon after Tavares’s departure to head up Ram, having initially retired as an exec in May while Tavares was in charge. Kuniskis, who had been with the company for 32 years before his departure, headed up Ram and Dodge and was overseeing Dodge’s transition to electric muscle cars.

Ram scrapped its Hemi-V8 engine in favor of a twin-turbocharged Hurricane inline-six, which upset some of the cars’ fans.

Despite the new engine setup offering a better performance level, according to several reviewers, Kuniskis believes anger over the switch was down to a typically American obsession: freedom.

“Honestly, the bigger issue is not Hemi vs. T6,” Kuniskis said in an interview with Road & Track.

“The bigger issue is we took away a fundamental American thing. Americans love freedom of choice more than anything. When you take away their freedom of choice and tell them ‘you must take this,’ they revolt.

“Whether it makes sense or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s anti-American, you’ve taken my flag away, f*** you. It doesn’t mean they are making an irrational decision, maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, I don’t know. But we as Americans, that’s what we do.”

Stellantis was formed out of a 2021 merger between Chrysler-Fiat and PSA group, which owned Peugeot. Tavares, who was chairman of the PSA Group, was chosen to head up Stellantis.

Ram forms a key pillar of Stellantis’s market in the U.S., while also selling the Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep brands.

While the carmaker had early success in its new iteration in the U.S. as spending rose following the COVID-19 pandemic, it soon ran into severe difficulties.

Sales of Ram pickups declined by 18% last year, while the carmaker reduced deliveries to dealers in an attempt to reduce a backlog of inventory. The group’s market share in the U.S. plunged to a low of 7.2% in July last year, having routinely sat in the double digits prior.

After his departure, executives criticized Tavares for taking control away from the North American bosses in favor of a global approach to sales.

Stellantis underwent a premiumization push, hiking the price of its pickup trucks in the U.S. while other automakers engaged in a price war.

Bernstein, the equity research group, argued Stellantis had a misplaced belief in its own pricing power after speaking to disgruntled dealers who felt the carmaker had forsaken its core customers without finding a more premium buyer.

Several publications reported Tavares was eventually ousted for presenting a turnaround plan that focused on short-term gains to save his reputation at the expense of the company’s long-term health.

His successor, Agnelli family member John Elkann, has promised to rebuild Stellantis’s relationship with dealers and installed Kuniskis as an official CEO of the Ram brand in a bid to reshape its faltering approach to the U.S.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...&cvid=33d17d0592c243bba8958ec2cd7ae480&ei=129
 

GTyankee

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Military
Joined
Nov 2, 2020
Posts
11,917
Reaction score
16,398
Location
El Cajon Calif. 92021
Ram Year
2016
Engine
3.0 ecodiesel
Just as i said once

Stellantis is in charge of North America

The FIAT FAMILY controls Stellantis

The 2 Fiat Family heads realized that
Tavares was a huge mistake & he was given the
1736987650764.png
 

HEMIMANN

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Dec 7, 2020
Posts
7,710
Reaction score
19,814
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Ram Year
2017 2500 Laramie Crew Cab
Engine
6.4L HEMI
Ya don't say.

Gee, we've never seen this movie before.
 

Pull Ya

U.S. MARINE VETERAN
Supporting Member
Military
Joined
Jan 16, 2012
Posts
15,878
Reaction score
23,311
Location
Cedar Creek, Tx
Ram Year
2015
Engine
5.7 Hemi
We are beginning to see price reductions(factory and dealer rebates) on some of the new 2025 trucks, however, this doesn't seem to be across the board. There still appear to be dealers that are not participating in the price reductions. There are also rumors that the hemi may be coming back, although there is certainly nothing official that I have read. Hopefully, there will be light at the end of the tunnel and things can be turned around before things get to a point of no return. For some reason this old guy just can't get my head around paying $70-$90K for a half ton truck. More astonishing is the fact that people are making payments in excess of $1,000 a month. All this just makes me love my paid for 2015 Ram R/T more.
Jay
 
Top