AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis reemerged from a seven-month retirement late final yr saying he “missed the battle” and admitting the Stellantis model was getting smashed within the market by its competitors.
Kuniskis walked on stage throughout a media occasion because the audio system blared Detroit rapper Eminem singing “Guess who’s again, again once more.” He promised an aggressive turnaround for the embattled truck model that’s now getting underway and can lengthen via 2026.
The plan contains greater than 25 bulletins via subsequent yr. So far they’ve included a return to NASCAR with mechanical bull rides and a brand new race truck, the resurrection of Hemi V-8 engines with a brand new “Image of Protest,” and, most not too long ago, a brand new industry-leading powertrain guarantee for its Ram merchandise.
Since returning after a CEO shake-up, Kuniskis is invigorated. He’s “flying with no parachute,” as he not too long ago described it, whereas enjoying with borrowed time and home cash since his unretirement. He’s going all in to launch a renaissance of Ram, which has skilled a 38% gross sales decline since its document yr again in 2019.
“I’ve excellent readability of my return as a result of, after I left and had an opportunity to relaxation, I spotted I didn’t want to depart, I simply wanted a break. Then I used to be itching to come back again,” Kuniskis advised CNBC throughout a current interview in his comparatively undecorated workplace. (He gave lots of his profession keepsakes away when he retired.) “We’ve got a window of alternative right here to repair plenty of stuff, and a few persons are stressed by that chance, and a few persons are fueled by it. Fortunately, our staff is fueled by it.”
Kuniskis, who was main Ram and Dodge upon his retirement mid-last yr, mentioned an array of points led to the model’s present state of affairs, together with the automaker’s pricing, mannequin launch cadence and, most significantly, issues with a redesign of its Ram 1500. That redesign led to manufacturing points which can be nonetheless being labored out greater than a yr after the automobile’s launch.
“We tried to do too many issues without delay,” Kuniskis mentioned of the Ram 1500. “We actually modified every little thing as an alternative of doing a cadence of the modifications.”
Kuniskis didn’t contact on the bigger points Stellantis was coping with below former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who left the automaker in December. Kuniskis was recruited again to Ram amid the change in management.
Turnaround plan
Ram is likely one of the most vital of Stellantis’ 14 manufacturers — if not an important. It competes within the extremely worthwhile full-size pickup truck market and {industry} consultants mentioned its success is vital to the corporate reestablishing itself within the business gross sales market.
“It’s type of the spine of their enterprise,” mentioned Joseph Yoon, shopper insights analyst at CarMax’s knowledge and shopper automobile purchasing website Edmunds.com. “The market share is massively necessary.”
Market share for the Ram 1500 within the U.S. full-size pickup truck market has plummeted from 17.8% in 2019 to eight.4% via roughly the primary half of this yr, in accordance with Edmunds.
Ram’s gross sales of full-size vans, which incorporates the 1500 and bigger variations, have declined 41% from 2019 via 2024, in accordance with firm knowledge, permitting opponents comparable to Basic Motors and Toyota Motor to extend gross sales throughout that point.
Whereas it’s early into the turnaround plan, which works into subsequent yr, Ram has already resurrected its well-liked Hemi V-8 engine; reintroduced lower-priced pickup truck fashions; introduced a return to NASCAR; and launched a 10-year/100,000 restricted powertrain guarantee for brand spanking new vans throughout its lineup, amongst different issues.
Kuniskis has mentioned additional bulletins may embody a number of new potential automobiles, together with a passenger van and midsize pickup truck that’s anticipated in 2027. He’s additionally launched a “Nothing Stops Ram” advertising marketing campaign and delayed the model’s electrified pickup vans amid low market demand.
“There’s at all times a way to the insanity,” Kuniskis mentioned. “There’s at all times a enterprise purpose behind one thing that looks like enjoyable.”
A part of that “enjoyable” features a return to NASCAR truck racing, the place followers can “Experience the Hemi” — a mechanical bull journey that appears just like the model’s new “Image of Protest” brand that options the engine with a ram’s head. If riders can keep on for 15 seconds, they obtain a special-edition T-shirt that may’t be bought.
Its splashy return to NASCAR earlier this month in Michigan additionally included a brand new truck design, in addition to a automobile doing doughnut burnouts.
Kuniskis declined to reveal gross sales targets for the Ram model or its full-size pickup vans, however he mentioned the corporate is aiming for a market share someplace between 20% and 29.9% for its full-size vans by the top of the plan. Ram Vans had a roughly 17% share of the U.S. full-size pickup truck market in 2024, in accordance with {industry} knowledge.
“I do know precisely the place we wish to be and what our expectations are,” he mentioned. “I ought to legitimately have a market share that begins with a two. … That’s a place to begin for us.”
However Kuniskis mentioned market share is just one metric and that plant utilization and income are additionally necessary. Whereas Ram’s general gross sales are down, he mentioned retail gross sales — a intently watched metric — are anticipated to be up by about 28% via the primary half of the yr.
“You don’t wish to chase share only for the sake of chasing share,” he mentioned. “I wish to have all vegetation operating at full capability to maximise my effectivity.”
‘Final Tenth LFG’
Kuniskis wears a black band on his left wrist with white lettering that reads “Final Tenth LFG.”
The primary half has been a mantra of Kuniskis’ for years to push his high lieutenants to carry out as greatest as they will. The latter half is an acronym with many meanings, together with “let’s freaking go.”
“If you have been in class, they advised you ‘Get an ‘A,’ every little thing might be nice. You’ll achieve success in life.′ Not true. Not true,” Kuniskis mentioned. “They bear in mind the man that method pushed past simply getting an ‘A’ in class and did one thing completely different, push that final tenth.”
Kuniskis handed out the wristbands to his staff in addition to the model’s sellers throughout his return to an annual supplier convention in January as a method to regain the belief of shops after years of contentious relations over incentives, merchandise and worth will increase.
To this point it appears to be working, in accordance with Michael Bettenhausen, a supplier in Illinois who chairs the Stellantis Nationwide Vendor Council.
“Every thing that Tim has confirmed us has us satisfied that the model is on a path to get again to the volumes that we’ve seen from years previous,” Bettenhausen mentioned. “We’re actually excited that Tim is main this cost. It’s actually outstanding.”
Bettenhausen additionally mentioned the full-size pickup truck market is vital to the success of the corporate and its sellers. It’s made up of patrons who usually have generational loyalties to a model and act as ambassadors for it.
“Buyer loyalty is a large a part of that enterprise,” Yoon mentioned. “For lots of those individuals, it doesn’t matter if their model is objectively the very best product or not. It’s simply that regardless of the automaker is doing, they really feel prefer it’s greatest for them.”
Bringing again the automaker’s well-known Hemi V-8 could have been a superb begin, as Kuniskis mentioned the corporate obtained 12,000 Hemi orders on the primary day pickup vans with the engine have been accessible for sellers to order.
Because the Hemi returns, Ram’s electrification plans, together with a brand new plug-in truck and an all-electric mannequin, are being delayed. Kuniskis declined to debate manufacturing timing for the all-electric mannequin, which was initially anticipated final yr. He mentioned the plug-in mannequin — generally known as an extended-range electrical automobile, or EREV — will start manufacturing this yr however declined to specify when shopper gross sales will start.
Kuniskis mentioned he believes the EREV might be extra of a differentiator out there and extra necessary within the model’s turnaround plan via 2026.
“I’m actually bullish on the yr. I’m actually happy with how we began this yr and that’s simply utilizing conventional ways,” Kuniskis mentioned. “We haven’t gotten to the brand new stuff but.”
