Within Stellantis's plan to relive its Ram Trucks brand after decrease

Auburn Hills, Mich.-The CEO of Ram, Tim Kuniskis, was again a seven-month retreat at the end of last year saying that “he lost the fight” and admitted the Stellantis Brand was being crushed in the market for its competition.

Kuniskis took the stage during a multimedia event when the speakers launched Detroit Eminem rapper singing “Guess who is back, again.” He promised an aggressive change for the truck brand that is now starting and will extend until 2026.

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

Since he returned after a CEO shaking, Kuniskis is vigorized. He is “flying without parachute”, as he described recently, while playing with borrowed time and house money from his description. He is going to launch a RAM, which has experienced a decrease in sales of 38% since its record year in 2019.

“I have a perfect clarity of my return because, after I left and I had the opportunity to rest, I realized that I didn't need to leave, I just needed a break. Then I was eager to return,” Kuniskis told CNBC during a recent interview in his relatively not decorated office. (He gave many of his memories of his career when he retired). “We have a window of opportunity here to fix many things, and some people are stressed by that opportunity, and some people are fed by that. Fortunately, our team is fed by that.”

Kuniskis, who led Ram and dodged in his retirement in the middle of the year, said that a variety of problems led to the current situation of the brand, including the prices of the automobile manufacturer, the cadence of launching of the model and, most importantly, problems with a redesign of its RAM 1500. which redesigned the production problems that are still being solved more than a year after the vehicle's launch.

“We try to do too many things at once,” Kuniskis said about RAM 1500. “We literally change everything instead of making a cadence of changes.”

Kuniskis did not mention the biggest problems that Stellantis was trying under the former Stellantis CEO, Carlos Tavares, who left the car manufacturer in December. Kuniskis was recruited to return to RAM amid the change in leadership.

RAM is one of the 14 most crucial brands in Stellantis, if not the most important. Compete in the highly profitable full -size truck market and industry experts said its success is key for the company to be restored in the commercial sales market.

“It's a kind of backbone of your business,” said Joseph Yoon, Consumer Insights analyst from CarmaxData Purchasing and Consumer Automents Edmunds.com. “The market share is very important.”

Market participation for RAM 1500 in the US full -size truck market has collapsed from 17.8% in 2019 to 8.4% to approximately the first half of this year, according to Edmunds.

RAM sales of full -size trucks, which include the 1500 largest versions, have decreased 41% from 2019 to 2024, according to company data, allowing competitors such as competitors General Motors and Toyota motor To increase sales during that time.

While it is early in the response plan, which enters next year, RAM has already resurrected its popular Hemi V-8 engine; lower price truck models reintroduced; announced a return to Nascar; and introduced a limited motor train guarantee of 10 years/100,000 for new trucks in their alignment, among other things.

Kuniskis has said that additional ads could cover several new potential vehicles, including a passenger truck and a medium van that is expected in 2027. He also launched a marketing campaign “nothing stops RAM” and delayed the brand electrified trucks in the middle of the low market demand.

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

Part of that “fun” includes a return to Nascar Truck Racing, where fans can “mount the hem”, a mechanical bullfighting that looks like the new logo of “protest symbol” of the brand that presents the engine with the head of a ram. If passengers can stay in 15 seconds, they receive a special edition shirt that cannot be purchased.

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

Kuniskis refused to reveal sales objectives for the RAM brand or its full -size trucks, but said the company points to a market share somewhere between 20% and 29.9% for its full -size trucks at the end of the plan. Ram Trucks had a participation of approximately 17% in the US full -size truck market. 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 … That is a starting point for us.”

But Kuniskis said that market share is only a metric and that the use and profits of the plant is also important. While RAM's general sales have fallen, he said that retail sales, a monitoring metric, rise in approximately 28% during the first half of the year.

“You don't want to pursue share just for chasing sharing,” he said. “I want all plants to work in full capacity to maximize my efficiency.”

Kuniskis uses a black band on her left wrist with white letters that says “Last denth LFG”.

The first part has been a Kuniskis mantra for years to push their main place to work as well as possible. The last part is an acronym for many meanings, including “let's go.”

“When you were at school, they told you 'getting a' A ', everything will be great. You will succeed in life.' It is not true.” Remember that the guy in that way pushed beyond getting a 'A' at school and did something different, pushed that last tenth. “

Kuniskis delivered the bracelets to his team, as well as the brand's distributors during his return to an annual concessionaires conference in January as a way of recovering the confidence of retailers after years of contentious relationships on incentives, products and price increases.

Until now it seems to be working, according to Michael Bettenhause, a concessionaire in Illinois presided by the National Council of Distributors of Stellantis.

“Everything Tim has shown us has convinced us that the brand is on its way to return to the volumes we have seen from past years,” said Bettenhausen. “We are really excited that Tim leads this burden. It is really remarkable.”

Bettenhause also said that the full -size truck market is key to the success of the company and its distributors. It is composed of buyers who often have generational loyalties to a brand and act as ambassadors for it.

“Customer loyalty is a large part of that business,” Yoon said. “For many of these people, no matter if their brand is objectively the best product or not. It is just whatever the car manufacturer is doing, they feel it is better for them.”

Bringing back the well-known HEMI V-8 of the car manufacturer may have been a good start, since Kuniskis said the company received 12,000 HEMI orders on the first day that the trucks with the engine were available so that the concessionaires order them.

As the HEMI returns, RAM's electrification plans, including a new plug -in truck and a fully electric model, are being delayed. Kuniskis refused to discuss production time for the fully electrical model, which was initially expected last year. He said that the complement model, known as an extended rank electric vehicle, or EREV, will begin production this year, but refused to specify when consumer sales will begin.

Kuniskis said he believes that EREV will be more a differentiator in the market and more important in the brand's response plan until 2026.

“I am really optimistic in the year. I am really proud of how we start this year and that is just using traditional tactics,” Kuniskis said. “We have not yet reached new things.”