Ralph Gilles serves dual roles as Chrysler's corporate design chief - and as head of the Dodge brand.
Chrysler is in the midst of a major turnaround – or so it hopes — and of the company’s five marques, perhaps Dodge, which has been repositioned the mainstream performance brand, is the biggest torch-carrier for the company.
A lot of the credit for that arguably goes to Ralph Gilles, the president and CEO of the brand – as well as the head of design for Chrysler itself.
The youthful Gilles, who favors designer jeans and casual button-down shirts, rather than the suit-and-tie uniform, resonates with the media and enthusiasts precisely because he comes across as a car guy and not a stuffed shirt.
Now he needs to get his brand to have the same favorable image with a skeptical public. And no one knows that better than Gilles himself.
“We need to re-open a discussion with America,” Gilles said. “Get our own identity.”
The new Dodge Charger SRT8.
He won’t talk much about future product other than to acknowledge that a new C-segment car is on the way – which will be based on a platform to be shared with Chrysler’s Italian alliance partner, Fiat. Gilles is more open to discussing current product, marketing, and fuel-economy trends.
“This is nothing new,” he says of potential changes to federal fuel-economy regulations, referencing the 1980s. “Technology kind of finds a way,” he says of meeting the challenge of building performance cars in this climate.
Indeed, Dodge made muscle the centerpiece of its Chicago Auto Show preview, rolling out both the 465-horsepower Charger SRT8 (For a closer look, Click Here), and an assortment of new models badged R/T (Read more Here).
The fuel economy fight takes a backseat to a more immediate and important task: Getting customers to simply get the Dodge brand back on the motoring public’s radar.
“That challenge is getting the word out,” Gilles said.
Perhaps that’s why Dodge lent its name to the movie “The Dilemma” starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James. And perhaps that’s one reason why Gilles took on the role of CEO and the increased responsibilities that come with the job.
“It’s been fun because it’s been so energizing,” Gilles said, although one wonders how he can be so energized following frequent nights of just four hours of sleep.
When asked what’s next for Dodge, beyond new product, Gilles doesn’t pull punches.
“Hopefully growth,” he says. “We just gotta get ‘em in the showrooms.”