Pack It Up: Stellantis Disbands SRT Engineering Team
While we knew Fiat Chrysler Automobiles would have to undergo substantial changes after it merged with PSA Group to form Stellantis, many enthusiasts were holding out hope that the North American Street & Racing Technology (SRT) engineering team would skate by unmolested.
No such luck.
Over the weekend, Mopar Insiders reported that the newly formed company had actually disbanded SRT so its members could be reintegrated into the general population. Our assumption was that the company didn’t want want to advertise that it had dissolved the group responsible for some of the most memorable and exciting Mopar models in history. But the company explained itself when prompted.
“All of the core elements of the SRT performance engineering team have been integrated into our company’s global engineering organization,” a Stellantis spokesperson told the outlet. “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.”
“These products have delighted enthusiasts for nearly two decades, 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,” she concluded.
While that makes it sound as though the whole company will be benefiting from SRT’s engineering prowess, plenty of folks on this side of the pond don’t care about how well this decision is going to work out for the Citroën Berlingo. Still, hope remains that PSA engineers can be similarly tapped to improve the performance of future models slated for our roads.
As for the name, everything we’ve heard since the merger was approaching completion suggested that future SRT models would be a Dodge-only affair. Jeep’s high-performance models will carry the Trackhawk name while Chrysler is just a giant question mark.
[Images: FCA/Stellantis]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
My bad vibes about this merger have been realized. What basically happened was a French company took over FCA and deliberately weakened it. What other conclusion can you come up with. They took FCA best asset (SRT) and immediately cancelled it. Today FCA is a much weaker company. Maybe that is what they wanted the whole time. Stellantis is living in a fool's paradise if they think American's are going to buy rebadged Peugeots.
How depressing. Chrysler Corp needs to be liberated and made All-American again.