Stellantis will move to dissolve Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ performance division, Street & Racing Technology (SRT), according to a new report.
As initially reported by Mopar Insiders, Stellantis will disband FCA’s SRT performance division, with the core elements of the engineering team integrated into the company’s broader global engineering organization.
“This action will have the two-way benefit of ensuring that our brands’ SRT and performance-focused product offerings continue to meet the highest quality standards and expectations while delivering key learnings from motorsports and other high-performance-technology applications across a wider mix of our company’s product lines,” said a Stellantis spokesperson in a statement to Mopar Insiders.
Rumors of SRT’s dissolution have been swirling for a while now. Back in December of 2019, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot S.A. (PSA) signed on to a 50:50 merger deal, adopting the name Stellantis in the process. Although Stellantis originally stated that FCA’s various brands (Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and Chrysler) would not be changed, that apparently does not apply to SRT.
“These products have delighted enthusiasts for nearly two decades,” the Stellantis spokesperson added in reference to SRT, “and Stellantis will continue to sell and develop the next generation of Dodge/SRT-branded vehicles, as well as Jeep and Ram vehicles that utilize high-performance SRT technology”.
According the Mopar Insiders, the SRT engineers will now be integrated with performance engineers from PSA, with the newly merged team collaborating to create high-performance vehicles across the entirety of the Stellantis product portfolio.
The SRT performance division was formed in 2004 as an evolution of Performance Vehicle Operations, and Specialty Vehicle Engineering. SRT was spun into a premium performance brand in 2012, debuting with the introducing of the 2013 SRT Viper. More recent SRT products include the Dodge Durango SRT, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, and the Ram 1500 TRX, to name just a few.
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Comments
sooooo. this means what exactly? SRT is dead, or just broadened?
Ford started all this with SVT, GM push the SS brand but it didn’t work because they put it on every Chevrolet in the line up.Dodge SRT will go the way the Blue Oval did which is now called Ford Performance today
Ford has just kinda hopped back and forth between performance brands and I believe that they’re using ST right now which is very popular right now due to the Explorer otherwise there’s the GT brand and Ford Performance which are less “cool mom” cars and more actual performance vehicles.
You realize Mopar is 80+ years old right? the only older performance division that i know of is Ferrari Scuderia at 92 years ago. Ford wasn’t on the scene until SVO was created in 1981.
I see it this way: the SRT engineers become part of a global performance subgroup of Stellantis’ global engineering and technical development combine.
Maybe they will make contributions to Peugeot’s Le Mans 24 Hours project, or Opel’s OPC versions.
Not disbanded but welcomed in a global community.
An unrelated integration task is Stellantis’ range of LCVs (Light Commercial Vehicles). While Opel/Vauxhall will soon end the badge engineering of their large van „Movano“ with Renault’s „Master“ and produce the new Movano as a rebadged FIAT Ducato (aka RAM Promaster) in the enlarged factory in Tychy, Poland, where up to now the Opel/Vauxhall Astra is being built (the new one will off the line in Rüsselsheim together with the new DS DS4, on the same platform). FIAT and Peugeot-Citroën produce the Ducato/Promaster together since 1980.
Before Opel/Vauxhall were sold to PSA in 2017, Opel’s small LCV was badge engineered from what is known in North America as RAM ProMaster City, which was replaced after the sale by the corresponding PSA versions, a change which was already set in motion in 2012, when GM and PSA agreed on the common development of a small LCV and several small cars on PSA platforms, bolstered by GM taking a 7% share in PSA, which GM got rid of when PSA was saved from bankruptcy by the French state and PSA’s Chinese partner Dongfeng both slightly less than 15% of PSA (these percentages became much smaller before the merger with FCA).
In Europe they have a van of intermediate size between what you in NA know as Promaster and Promaster City, which originally where cargo versions of what FIAT and PSA produced together in the North of France (SEVEL Nord at Hordain) as „Eurovan“ in competition to the Chrysler Voyager. The FIAT version was called Scudo.
In 2012, FIAT left that cooperation and replaced the Scudo with the Talento, badge engineered from the Renault Trafic and Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro. The FIAT share was replaced by a Toyota ProAce. After PSA took over Opel/Vauxhall, this Vivaro was replaced by badge engineered version if the bew generation of the PSA van. This van is produced in all its brands in the original Vauxhall factory in Luton, England. These vans are built on PSA’s platform EMP, which is tuned more for passenger cars than cargo vans.
Now all this is put together inside the international giant Stellantis, which will want to replace FIAT Doblò aka RAM Promaster City and the Opel/Vauxhall Combo with their Peugeot Citroën siblings by a common world cargo van.
After PSA took over Opel, they established a task force in what was GM’s 2nd largest development center art Rüsselsheim, Germany to lead the develop a new LCV platform for the enlarged PSA.
After the creation of Stellantis, this task becomes larger. If this task force in the Opel development center will keep this leading role for this larger entity, is unknown to me. Anyway, engineers from FIAT Professional and Dodge-RAM will have to be part if this effort
So we are full circle back at the engineering centers if FCA in USA.
plz excuse my long detour in a bug curve around the SRT group.
But I had to put this convoluted story in writing, and this post seemed to be a near perfect occasion.
This is somewhat misleading:
»In 2012, FIAT left that cooperation and replaced the Scudo with the Talento«
In 2012, FIAT took the decision to dissolve this cooperation, but continued for the life cycle of the current model with Scudo, and changed to the Renault sourced only in 2016.
In 2012 FIAT replaced the psssenger minivans from SEVEL Nord by badge engineered versions of the Chrysler Voyager.
Like jonnyd84 above, I’m not sure how to take this. What I can say is that I sure feel badly for Chrysler Corp. They have been tossed around for many years now and with some “partners” that had zero car enthusiasm. Poor Chrysler brand is being starved to death. It’s like they want it to die and it just won’t. Why on earth Dodge is also being starved for anything new is a tragedy. It’s not what I would want to see, but it seems like it would be best to just have Ram and Jeep any more. Or better yet, put Ram back under the Dodge roof and give them some new products.
Look at the presentation of its brands on the Stellantis corporate website. On Crysler it says
»Chrysler is the American brand that invented the minivan and continues to stand for innovation, efficiency and functionality.«
The Chrysler Voyager was quite a success in Europe and I always wondered why FCA had not brought the Pacifica to Europe. I hope Stellantis will do.
One could understand the above quote that Chrysler becomes Stellantis’ global minivan brand. I could also imagine that some Peugeot or Opel cars come to NA rebadged as Chrysler.
Dodge being for performance and muscle cars, and RAM for pickups and LCV.
»Domestic. Not Domesticated.« as the brand Dodge is characterized on Stellantis’ corporate website.
This is what is happening. The SRT group is being absorbed by the new company. The people will be dispersed around the compan6 and integrated in programs they are skilled in.
This is the same 5hing as the GM Performance group that was dissolved. The people of the GMPD were moved to be interpreted with vehicle’s at the ground point.
This means some went to the suspensions group like Mark Stielow did and worked on programs like the Camaro Z/28. Other went to drivetrain and Cadillac black wing group. Etc.
But what this will do is make less mega performance cars but it will improve the performance and handling of the standard cars.
The bottom line is the V8 at Chrysler is on the decline and the mega power cars are no longer needed to attract a buyer.
Stellantis Is steering the ship now and they will have performance in the form of smaller turbo engines and BEV cars.
What we will see will be a disappointment by the American performance fans as Dodge is transformed into a global company with less interest in American heritage performance.
The Future may just be rebadged cars tuned for America with Docge badges.
I expect the trucks to remain mostly in American hands. They know the market. As for Jeep it will go more global with odd rebadged models like the Renegade that would sell globally well but not so much here.
I knew this time was coming as there were no real plans for the new cars before and after the merger.
While we are going to lose the traditional performance we all love there will still be some fast and interesting vehicles if we can keep an open mind.
Don’t think so.
The challengers, chargers, and now the durangos are benefiting from good ol American muscle V8’s.
They’re great cars with lots of power and sell like hot cakes.
They can’t beat Dodge, so they buy it and disband it.
Assholes.
Dodge is just going to be that boring fake performance brand with a supercharged inline 6 and call it a performance car. The Italians and French really are messing things up. I mean we all knew that eventually they would get rid of the V8 but not this soon. At this point Dodge seems very disposable to them since SRT/Hellcat is Dodge. I just can’t see a plug in hybrid or electric car and no real SRT. If Chrysler doesn’t do something soon and have more than the minivan and the good but ancient 300 they’re axed next.
Dodge as run by Fiat and now Peugeot. Crap taken over by garbage now controlled by rubbish. Sometimes you just gotta let the suffering die.
Grumpy old men complaining about life, whose only constant element is permanent change. 🤡😂😷
There’s good change, there’s not very good change and then there’s just change for the sake of change. We live in a world of mostly change for the sake of change which usually equates with not very good.
Chrysler has a rich history and Dodge remains the last gasp of Stars and Stripes in a tiresomely overhyped “green” and “high tech” generic and uninspired international PC melted blob soulless autosphere. It is highly unlikely that the “global community” either understands nor could give a rat’s a$$ about how deeply ingrained Chrysler and Dodge are within the fabric of the International community’s undisputed favorite nation-piñata, The United States of America – which is a crying shame. Europeans might think Chrysler minivan. Red blooded Americans think Turbine Car and 8-barrel Plum Crazy Street Hemi. We’re culturally and physically worlds apart.
Chrysler and Dodge deserve a solid commitment to a deftly precision engineered ascension to their former glory with all the colorful flavor of Dodge left fully intact and regarded as a vital part of the experience. I’d stop just short of saying that Marchionne’s merger with GM would’ve been better than a Stellantis fate, but seeing where GM is headed, maybe Stellantis will actually figure it out and maximize their investment in both by resurrecting Chrysler with a true sense of reverence and banking heavily on the American fighting spirit uniquely embodied in Dodge. The entire downtrodden masked (muzzled?) world could use a mega-dose of that spirit about now.
Actually here is the trouble.
FCA has been a dumpster fire run by a garbage fire. Sergio built up Ram and the Jeep lines along with SRT to attract a buyer. Then he died.
This left FCA incomplete and with few future plans to deal with coming regulations.
Fiat was an even larger mess as their cars failed in America and their plants still suffered over capacity globally.
Ow you toss in the virus issues and slow downs from the lack of chips it is forcing the new owner to make cuts.
The first thing to go generally is performance and sports cars. Hence the closing of SRT. GM did the same prior to the bail out.
The company that took in FCA was not exactly at the top of their game either and was enticed by the trucks, Jeep and added scale to help them struggle through a tough time.
Because of global regulations hybrids and BEV are in great need and on an larger scale to survive. Investment is a must and while selling 900 hp car is cool it was not solving their money or future product problems.
I know it is not a popular move but it was one that anyone with an eye for the future was expecting,
Stellantis Really has little use for the Chrysler and Dodge larger sedans and cars, They are old and need investment at a time the money needs to go else where. One are going to save them as profits are small as are the volumes.
Jeep and Ram make lot of money and volume so they are safe. But everything else is on the table.
People can say what they want about Sergio but the man got the company out of the red. At the expense of delayed products and a very narrow stream of new products. I.E. the ram 1500 which people love and makes GM’s chevy offerings look like a refresh. GM has taken a back seat too. Pre debt the company had more pride in my opinion. The company had a larger worldwide presence, people were happy to see GM vehicles in movies, i.e. transformers. Performance models for everyone.
With all of that said people will still want performance no matter what.
Ram is basically dodge and if the 1500 and up were still sold as a dodge the brand would get more attention. The current charger and challenger generate big profits for dodge, combine that with the 1500 and the brand could be fixed. It has been unacceptable that they could not update their FWD CUV when we are in an age of lust for FWD CUVs.
I could be proven very wrong in the future but I have even lower expectations for stellantis than when Fiat took over Chrysler. PSA has nothing alone that would entice americans via the brands they have never heard of. This move for them will allow for them to gain the easiest entry for the french brands into the USA truthfully. I hope I am wrong.
The trouble is this. Sergio got Ram and Jeep out of trouble but literally left the Dodge and Chrysler products to rot.
Yes they had some cool RWD cars but they did nothing to save the brands. He should have invested the profits stolen from Jeep and Ram and put them into CUV models of quality at Dodge and Chrysler.
The trouble is cool cars are great but they don’t pay the bills and there were lots of bills hence the merger. If they had the CUV models they may have been able to stay independent but the money was lost pumping it into Fiat and Maserati.
The truth is the names Dodge and Chrysler will be nothing but a rebadged import car. In time they may even go away if they fail in America as they hold little value overseas.
So in truth Sergio was right to invest in Jeep and Ram but he was a criminal to take that money away from the American brands.
The Performance line was nothing but for publicity to pump up the image for a buyer. The production numbers were not much and prices often were discounted so much that there was little meat on the bones. My inlaws bought a 300 new for Malibu money with rebates. Not much profit there.
Imagine if Sergio had moved ahead with the next gen performance models that were lighter and as powerful with modern suspensions?
Sergio left much on the table due to his Italian loyalty.
What other performance engineers does PSA have? To the French adding more bar to one of their FWD tiny 4 bangers is considered performance. With a very steep price. What this could mean is a neutered dodge brand in the future with less powerful vehicles than dodge fans are accustomed to. Stellantis says they will continue to develop Dodge products in the future but Dodge is a big vehicle performance brand. Will they continue to develop the platform that underpins the Challenger or Charger? Will the durango get the new Grand cherokee platform? Or is Jeep too upscale now for dodge? I doubt Dodge will get to use RWD italian platforms even though american profits from FCA helped pay for them in big ways. Dodge will fail if stellantis does not get to keep their RWD platforms or get a new one. As the Dodge fanbase will not accept FWD/AWD platforms for a charger or challenger. And the new ones must not be an inch smaller than what is on sell now. I really fear they will loose their American identity.
»What other performance engineers does PSA have?« you ask.
Peugeot is competing in 2022 WEC i.e. Le Mans 24 hours. I found an english language article for you on „Peugeot 2022 Le Mans hypercar to use 670bhp hybrid V6“ in a British auto magazine autocar dot co.uk/car-news/motorsport-news/peugeot-2022-le-mans-hypercar-use-670bhp-hybrid-v6
Mind you that Peugeot entered WEC Le Mans racing with their diesel powered „Peugeot 908 HDi FAP“ from 2007 till 2011 and won the Le Mans 24 in 2009.
Further you may want to take a look at the new Maserati MC 20.
Besides this let me say: Have no fear!
Any time you take small focused groups like this and broaden their scope too wide or disperse them about the company all their benefit is largely lost as the talent and focus absorbed into that larger pool.
Dodge will be fine and performance will live on. It may not be the classic V8 engines that America has come to know and love but it will still live on. It wont be all electric but hybrid performance will definitely have a place in this new scene and it will be okay. Figuring that they have the 505hp/443tq 2.9L Quadrifoglio engine and the 425hp/428tq 3.0L V6 from Maserati, what may be coming from the new FCA vehicles, particularly under the Dodge Performance Brand will probably still be psychotic just like they have been for quite some time. We will probably see the return of SRT4 and SRT6 type vehicles with that type of raw performance that the SRT4 Neon had but with a bit of the premium comforts that the current SRT Vehicles have. Thinking about the fact that before the return of the Challenger and Charger, Dodge had performance vehicles like the Dodge Stealth RT, the SRT4 Neon, the Daytona IROC, the Durango R/T, the Dakota R/T The Chrysler Conquest TSi and the Chrysler 300M Special. Not to mention the Ford/Mitsubishi spin-off Eagle (which was under Jeep) with the Talon Tsi and Vision TSi, which could easily be renamed Dodge Talon R/T. So many possibilities.
@HSVfan
»Dodge will be fine and performance will live on. It may not be the classic V8 engines that America has come to know and love but it will still live on. It wont be all electric «
Do you know the Porsche Taycan? A four door 4 seat all electric high performance BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) sports sedan. In 2020 there were more new car registrations in Germany of the Taycan than of the BMW 7 series.
Couldn’t you imagine something like that under the Dodge brand?
Such a car could even be sold in Europe.
Another interesting variant is a mild hybrid with this 8-gear automatic transmission which has an electric motor build in, which Tavares mentioned somewhere. The recently revealed McLaren “Hypercar” has this transmission.
———–
BTW, when I read “HSVfan” I think of a fan of the Hamburger Sport-Verein, the longest serving member of the 1st football league in Germany, relagated a year ago.
Set won’t be a brand anymore. It will just go back to being a model like before and they will also work on other vehicles under the stellantis umbrella and not just for dodge, jeep and ram.
Dodge/Chrysler / SRT will go the same way Holden did here in Australia. Will die out. Multinational corporations don’t care about enthusiasts. The V8 is a dinosaur to them. Is a damn shame
Strange things happen on this blog… now this comment does appear, but not the one I had just entered.
I just got an eMail-notification of a new comment by a Chris Hinchliffe, but it was initially not visible hiere.
My reply: as far as I know Mr. Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, he will keep what is profitable and discard what is not.
When really the V8 dinosaurs sell enough to be profitable, they will continue to be be built. If not, they will disappear.
Remember: Audio cassettes have disappeared, VHS and Betamax video cassettes have disappeared. What else? Nothing is permanent. At least I have found workshops where I live (in Germany) who will repair my old record player and loudspeaker. Time is fleeting…
Carlos Tavares has explained repeatedly, that all brands will be protected, that the merger to Stellantis is a shield for them, not a menace.
We’ll see.
Strange things happen on this blog…
I just got an eMail-notification of a new comment by a Chris Hinchliffe, but it is not visible hiere.
I wanted to reply to it; I copy the text from the emai:
»
Dodge/Chrysler / SRT will go the same way Holden did here in Australia. Will die out. Multinational corporations don’t care about enthusiasts. The V8 is a dinosaur to them. Is a damn shame.
«
My reply: as far as I know Mr. Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, he will keep what is profitable and discard what is not.
When really the V8 dinosaurs sell enough to be profitable, they will continue to be be built. If not, they will disappear. Remember: Audio cassettes have disappeared, VHS and Betamax video cassettes have disappeared. What else? Nothing is permanent. At least I have found workshops where I live (in Germany) who will repair my old record player and loudspeaker. Time is fleeting…