Inside Stellantis’ plan to revive its Ram Trucks brand after yearslong sales declines

Auburn Hills, Michigan – RAM CEO Tim Kuniskis, re -emerged a seven -month retirement at the end of last year by saying that he “missed the fight” and admitting that the Stellantis brand was broken on the market by its competition.

Kuniskis went on stage during a media event when the speakers put pressure on the rapper from Detroit Eminem singing “guess who is back, back.” He promised an aggressive turnaround for the besieged truck brand which is underway and which will extend until 2026.

The plan includes more than 25 ads until next year. Until now, they have included a return to Nascar with mechanical journeys and a new race truck, the resurrection of HEMI V-8 engines with a new “protest symbol” and, more recently, a new guarantee of the advanced powertrain for its RAM products.

Since his return after an upheaval of the CEO, Kuniskis has been invigorated. He “flies without parachute”, as he recently described, while playing with time borrowed and money at home since his non-retirement. He’s going to launch a rebirth from RAM, which has dropped to 38% sales since its record year in 2019.

“I have a perfect clarity of my return because, after my departure and I had the chance to rest, I realized that I did not need to leave, I just needed a break. Then I wanted to come back,” Kuniskis told CNBC during a recent interview in his relatively undecided office. (He gave a lot of his career memories when he retired.) “We have a window of opportunity here to repair a lot, and some people are stressed by this opportunity, and some people are fed by this. Fortunately, our team is fueled by this.”

Kuniskis, who directed Ram and Dodge during his retirement in the middle of the year, said that a range of problems led to the brand’s current situation, including the pricing of the car manufacturer, the launching rate of the model and, above all, the problems with an overhaul of its RAM 1500. This overhaul has led to production problems which are even more than a year after the launch of the vehicle.

“We tried to do too much at the same time,” said Kuniskis about RAM 1500. “We have literally changed everything instead of making a rate of changes.”

Kuniskis did not address the biggest questions with which Stellantis was dealing with the former CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, who left the automaker in December. Kuniskis was recruited in Ram in the middle of the change of leadership.

Recovery plan

RAM is one of the 14 most crucial brands in Stellantis – if not the most important. It participates in the very profitable full -size van market and industry experts have declared that its success is essential for the company to recover on the commercial sales market.

“It is sort of the backbone of their business,” said Joseph Yoon, Consumer Insights analyst on the Carmax and Edmunds.com consumption purchase site. “The market share is extremely important.”

The RAM 1500 market share on the US full size vans went from 17.8% in 2019 to 8.4% up to approximately the first half of this year, according to Edmunds.

Sales of full -size trucks by RAM, which include 1,500 larger versions, decreased by 41% from 2019 to 2024, according to business data, allowing competitors such as General Motors and Toyota Motor to increase sales during this period.

Although it is earlier in the recovery plan, which goes next year, RAM has already resurrected its popular HEMI V-8 engine; Models of reintroduced vans at low prices; announced a return to Nascar; And introduced a motorcycle group guarantee at 10 years / 100,000 for new trucks in its range, among others.

Kuniskis said other announcements could include several new potential vehicles, including a passenger van and a medium -sized van planned in 2027. He also launched a “Nothing Stops RAM” marketing campaign and delayed electrified electrified vans in the middle of low market request.

“There is always a madness method,” said Kuniskis. “There is always a commercial reason behind something that seems fun.”

Part of this “pleasure” includes a return to Nascar Truck Racing, where fans can “go up the Hemi” – a mechanical stroll that looks like the new “protest symbol” logo that includes the engine with a ram head. If runners can stay for 15 seconds, they receive a special edition t-shirt that cannot be purchased.

His spishy return to Nascar earlier this month in Michigan also included a new truck design, as well as a vehicle making donuts of donuts.

Kuniskis refused to disclose sales objectives for the RAM brand or its full -size vans, but he said that the company was aimed at market share between 20% and 29.9% for its full -scale trucks by the end of the plan. Ram Trucks had a share of around 17% of the American market for real -sized vans in 2024, according to industry data.

“I know exactly where we want to be and what are our expectations,” he said. “I should legitimately have a market share that begins with two. … This is a starting point for us.”

But Kuniskis said that the market share is only a metric and that the use of factories and profits are also important. Although RAM’s overall sales are down, he said retail sales – a closely observed metric – should increase by around 28% in the first half.

“You do not want to continue the share of sharing only for the prosecution,” he said. “I want all plants to work at full capacity to maximize my efficiency.”

‘Last tenth LFG’

Kuniskis carries a black band on his left wrist with white lettering that reads “last tenth LFG”.

The first part is a Kuniskis mantra for years to push its best lieutenants to perform the best they can. This last part is an acronym of many meanings, notably “Let’s Freaking Go”.

“When you were at school, they told you” get an “A”, everything will be great. You will succeed in life. “Not true.” Said Kuniskis. “They remember the guy in this way that pushed beyond simply obtaining a” A “at school and did something different, pushed the latter tenth.”

Kuniskis distributed the bracelets to his team as well as the brand’s dealers when they returned to an annual conference of concessionaires in January to regain the confidence of retailers after years of controversial relations on incentives, products and price increases.

Until now, this seems to work, according to Michael Bettenhausen, an Illinois merchant who chairs the National Council of Stellantis.

“Everything Tim has shown us convinced us that the brand is about to return to the volumes that we have seen since the past years,” said Bettenhausen. “We are really delighted that Tim leads this charge. It’s really remarkable. “

Bettenhausen also said that the full -size van market was the key to the success of the company and its dealerships. It is made up of buyers who often have generational loyalty to a brand and act as ambassadors for this.

“Customer loyalty is a large part of this business,” said Yoon. “For many of these people, it doesn’t matter whether their brand is objectively the best product or not. It’s just that everything the automaker does, they feel better for them.”

Bringing back the famous HEMI V-8 of the automaker may have been a good start, because Kuniskis said that the company had received 12,000 HEMI orders on the first day of van with the engine was available for dealers.

As the HEMI returns, RAM electrification plans, including a new plug-in truck and an electric model, are delayed. Kuniskis refused to discuss the production calendar of the electric model, which was initially expected last year. He said that the plug -in model – known as a prolonged electric vehicle, or EREV – will start production this year, but refused to specify the start of consumer sales.

Kuniskis said he thought that the EREV would be more a differentisator on the market and more important in the brand’s recovery plan until 2026.

“I am really optimistic about the year. I am really proud of the way we started this year and it just uses traditional tactics,” said Kuniskis. “We have not yet arrived at the new things.”