The V8 party is back on at Ram with Tim Kuniskis back in the driver’s seat. The Hemi V8 has returned as a “Symbol of Protest” and the Hellcat-powered TRX has been resurrected. But the man in charge that grew up watching his dad drag race knows the music will stop again and the future is electric.
On Thursday, in an exclusive one-on-one interview Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis told The Drive, “Electrification is fantastic. And at some point, it will take over, you know?”
Kuniskis compared the transition from gas-powered vehicles to EVs to when gas-powered cars arrived on the scene when people were still getting around via horses. “The internal combustion engine, the car took over for the horse and carriage because it was better,” Kuniskis said.
But how this transition is, or was, taking place has frustrated the executive who is the father of the Hellcats. Speaking about the last few years, Kuniskis said, “The industry was transitioning, everybody was out there beating their chest. They were going to transition to 100% electrication, and this, and that, and this, and that. And at the same time, we were forcing a technology into the market. I’m not saying we were forcing a bad technology.”
Kuniskis noted, “The internal combustion engine, the car took over for the horse and carriage because it was better.”
The main issue, according to Kuniskis, with the rapid transition to electric vehicles is the originally proposed timeline. “Electrification, we were trying to push it faster than consumers, and the industry, and the infrastructure, was ready for. We will get there,” Kuniskis said.
As for electrified vehicles? Kuniskis said, “There are some huge advantages of it. I mean, you’ve seen hybrid supercars. I mean, you’ve seen e-turbos.”
Ram announced an electric full-size truck called the Ram Rev back in 2023. After multiple delays the automaker killed the Rev, which never made it to dealers, in August of 2025.
Confusingly, the Rev debuted alongside a range-extended (EREV) variant of the truck that was to originally be called the Ram Ramcharger. The EREV was first announced in late 2023. After the Ram Rev was killed the automaker said the Ramcharger, when it launches, will now be called the Ram Rev. The Ram website currently claims the Rev is “projected” to launch in 2026.
As for how long the resurrected Ram TRX will keep the Hellcat-powered party going? Kuniskis said, “Call Washington.” His comment comes six months after the Trump administration moved to trash car emissions regulations, which is sending shockwaves through automaker’s product planning sessions.
Kuniskis noted, “I am not an anti electric guy. I am anti forcing things on consumers that are not driven by consumers. This industry works by emotion and passion only. Without emotion and passion driven by the customers, this entire industry is a bubble.”
“If you think about it, the average consumer now finances the car for, you know, six years, and they trade a car in three years. I’m rounding these numbers, but you get the point. Why would you buy a car, finance it for six years, and trade it in three years? Because we, as an industry, are really good at coming out with new, fresh, cool stuff that gets you excited, gets you emotional, and makes you come in and re up for another six years. Without that, the industry goes from 17 million, 14 million units of retail, probably goes to half of that. It’s that hamster wheel that we have created in this industry that makes it work. And inherent in that hamster wheel is pull from the customers passion and excitement. And when the customers are saying, I’m not ready for this transition, ’cause I can’t tow, it’s not good in cold weather, and da, da, da, da. And 5% of them want it, and we want to get to 100%. You lose that hamster wheel,” Kuniskis concluded.
The CEO’s goal? Keep the hamster wheel spinning.
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