Sam Krahn 
Earlier this week, news broke that the newly formed FCA and PSA overhead company Stellantis would be disbanding the Dodge-focused SRT performance engineering division. At first glance, it may seem like the end of the road for high performance SRT Dodge Charger, Challenger and Durango models, but our original report confirmed that the engineers were’t fired, they were just being spread across the Stellantis portfolio. With a recent statement to Motor Trend, Stellantis confirmed the disband isn’t a bad thing.
“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,” Stellantis said in a statement to Motor Trend. The outlet also reports the SRT badge will continue to appear on top level performance vehicles.
Moving forward, SRT will continue work on vehicles outside of the Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler brands. In fact, Stellantis neither confirmed nor denied the sub brand could make an appearance on all of the 14 brands under its corporate umbrella. So rest assured, Dodge Challenger and Charger SRT models will still be happening, but they won’t be the sole focus of SRT.
Pretty much, SRT engineers and the sub-brand will be around, but their work is being spread to more than just Dodge, where they’ve certainly proven they know a thing or two about making great cars.
Speaking of Dodge, the brand will continue to push forward as an enthusiast performance brand, but will unsurprisingly pivot towards electrification in years to come. This is no surprise, following Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis’ recent comments about the future of the brand. Plus, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is on record saying he supports performance vehicles across the company, and enjoys a bit of racing himself, a la Ford CEO Jim Farley.
There’s a lot of change happening over at Stellantis, on both the FCA and Peugeot sides of the brand, but if the spread of SRT means all brands will benefit from performance expertise, then we’re all for it.
