Building EVs is different from building ICE cars.
A February story claimed that Stallantis had disbanded the Street & Racing Technology division, better known as SRT. This Autoweek interview features Tim Kuniskis (Dow boss, interim CEO of Chrysler brand), who spins the news in a positive light. According to the executive, SRT cannot continue without reorganizing.
Kuniskis explained to Autoweek that he took a core group of people who were sitting in a building and had Rubicon 392 and TRX working in one area and Chargers and Challengers working in another. Kuniskis said that the TRX group was sent to work alongside the Ram engineers and the Rubicon392 group to work side by side with the Wrangler engineers.
Automakers were able to design a base model for their vehicles, just as they did decades ago. SRT, an engineering team, took control of the project and created a high-performance version.
Kuniskis claims that this tried-and-true strategy is not applicable to EVs due to the limited powertrain modification possibilities. He stated that electrification would make it very difficult to create an SRT version of the vehicle after the fact due to constraints such as a fixed size and shape of the battery pack, kilowatts/hour, battery chemistry and center of gravity.
It is worth noting that the SRT branding has not changed despite the team’s reorganization. The three letters will still be visible on performance products of Dodge, Ram and Jeep vehicles.
SRT keeps the fun going from combustion vehicles while it’s still possible. Dodge, for example, just increased Durango SRT Hellcat production so that everyone who placed an order could get their 710-horsepower muscle car.