Lapping Road America With Chrysler's Design Chief
“Now we’re in full ‘oh s—t’ mode,” Gilles smiled.
I figured Chrysler’s chief designer could careen around a racetrack in his own cars any way he liked, and it seemed like a good way to pass time after the 20-year company veteran spoke to journalists at the Midwest Automotive Media Association’s Spring Rally last week. Careen we did, nearing 140 mph down the half-mile Kettle Bottoms, between the 11th and 12th of Road America’s 14 turns. Gilles is a better track driver than me, but that’s not saying much: My apexes are messy, my drifts fleeting. Any weekend enthusiast would show me taillights.
Gilles has also navigated Chrysler’s own twists and turns. The 42-year-old designer jokes of still having nightmares of former CEO Bob Nardelli, whose tenure lasted all of 21 months, and he calls his current boss, Sergio Marchionne, a “globally minded” car guy. Gilles has led the automaker’s design for three years, overseeing cars from the Dodge Dart to the SRT Viper. A year ago, Marchionne appointed Gilles the CEO of Chrysler’s SRT performance brand.
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SRT’s zenith was in 2006, when sales peaked on a slew of SRT variants, from the Ram pickup to the Neon compact. Today the automaker offers SRT versions of just four nameplates — the Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger and Jeep Grand Cherokee — plus the standalone SRT Viper.
SRT is more targeted now, Gilles said. Back then, the division was “driven by a little bit of [sales] volume chasing,” so much that it was losing money on a few models. “Now [the SRT cars] have to make a business case,” he said, and that will include smaller engines than the brand’s current V-8 and V-10 lineup.
SRT will “absolutely” return to V-6 or four-cylinder engines, Gilles said. “We’re looking at all the new corporate-wide platforms right now.”
That could include the Dart, which would all but assuredly improve on the ill-executed Caliber SRT4. “It’s all I dream about,” Gilles told journalists over lunch. “We’re definitely interested in seeing that business case.”
“It’s one you haven’t seen yet,” Gilles said. “It’s coming out next year.”
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