Please join Ralph Gilles, Pres. and CEO, SRT Brand and Motorsports, along with several members of the SRT engineering team for a webchat on Thursday, Sept. 1 from 6pm-8pm EDT. They’ll discuss the status of Chrysler Group’s newest standalone brand and take your questions. Hope you can join us!
Posted on: August 11, 2011 – 4:25 pm by RLD
During the recent SRT media event at Willow Springs Raceway, our own Ralph Gilles was giving thrill rides in the hot new 470 horsepower 6.4L HEMI® powered 2012 Charger SRT8. A few adventure seekers from the automotive press stepped forward and rode shotgun while Ralph did some high-speed runs while letting it all hang out with some tire smoking drifting maneuvers. George Notaras from MotoMan stepped up to the plate and was able to trap Ralph and get some insights in the newly reenergized SRT brand. As Ralph puts it “Our mission at SRT is not just have people fall in love with the cars, but also with the overall community.” - Ah yes, spoken like a true enthusiast!
SRT Brand President/CEO Ralph Gilles talks about how SRT is designed to “amplify the basic DNA” of each brand, how each SRT vehicle has a “functional design” and how each is a “purpose-built vehicle.”
SRT Brand President/CEO Ralph Gilles talks about the “new breed” of customers that SRT Brand typically attracts. He says they’re “performance lovers” and that “SRT is a continuation of their passion.”
Gilles also talks about how accessible SRT engineers typically are to customers and enthusiasts.
SRT Brand President/CEO Ralph Gilles about how the Viper influenced him to want to work at Chrysler, the “club mentality” of the brand & enthusiasts, and what makes SRT unique vs any competitors.
Posted on: April 20, 2011 – 7:00 am by RLD
In the wild world of Rally racing, drivers and equipment have to race on courses where the conditions and surfaces range from the packed ice and snow of the Midwest and Northeast to the stifling heat and boulder strewn trails of the southwest. To show our fans that the new 2011 Avenger is tough as rocks, our friends at Mopar along with their new partners, Magneti Marelli have joined forces in creating a Rally concept vehicle that will be a rolling test bed for future parts from both brands.
The project began with a production 2011 Dodge Avenger Heat that was immediately put on a diet and lost nearly 200 pounds by stripping the interior of sound insulation, back seats, door panels and other creature comforts and non-essential factory equipment. Then the engineers from both Mopar and Magneti Marelli began transforming it into a really cool race- inspired vehicle that could take on challenging rally courses. For safety and structural reinforcement, a full 8-point Mopar roll cage was installed along with a strut tower brace. Special lightweight race seats with 5-point racing harnesses keep the driver and navigator firmly planted. OMP, a leader in racing hardware, supplied the steering wheel and diamond plate foot well. Mopar and Magneti Marelli installed a purpose-built center stack and console with a compact high-performance 1 GB data logger, integrated GPS and inertial platform with real-time calculation of pitch and roll angles. This way you know where you are headed and what your ‘angle of attack is’.
Under the hood is the new, award winning Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6 engine that in production models produces a best-in-class 283 horsepower while achieving 29 mpg on the highway. The Pentastar V-6 engine in the Avenger Rally concept car has been bumped from 283 to 300 horsepower thanks to a Mopar Performance exhaust system, cold-air intake and some minor calibration tweaks. The six-speed automatic is now controlled by paddle shifters integrated into the steering wheel. To keep the Avenger Rally concept on the course, the high-performance Mopar/Magneti Marelli braking system provides a stable, solid braking performance under all road conditions. This trick braking package features a single-lever, dual-control rear braking system, which allows the driver to actuate both rear brakes in order to initiate the sudden slides and turns required when blasting through the challenging and tough rally courses.
The Avenger Rally concept also had a modified suspension courtesy of Mopar/Magneti Marelli that lowers the ride by 1.5 inches thus improving handling, cornering ability and helping the vehicle blast over the numerous hazards on the course. Tough Pirelli 225/650 R18 competition P-Zero tires and unique Mopar/Magneti Marelli 18-inch alloy racing wheels are on all four corners keep to the power on the ground. The exterior of the Avenger is finished in sinister Brilliant Black and features an “in-your-face” Mopar/Magneti Marelli graphics wrap. Other exterior enhancements include a rear spoiler, hood pins and mud flaps.
Our own gear head Ralph Gilles had an opportunity run the Avenger Rally concept through its paces at our world class proving grounds in Chelsea, Michigan and if the mile wide grin on his face is any indication, this package is a winner!
Posted on: April 19, 2011 – 11:30 am by RLD
In case you slept in this past Sunday morning, our own Ralph Gilles was on Autoline Detroit. Ralph spoke to host John McElroy about design and the current revival of the Dodge brand. John was joined by Jeff Gilbert from WWJ News Radio and Natalie Neff with AutoWeek magazine. The questions that were varied and numerous which included fleet vs. retail sales, new power trains, our great interiors, the ownership experience along with our roots and the direction we’re heading. Autoline even tried to press Ralph on various topics such as the 2013 Viper along with future products, but he played it cool and told them they’d have to wait. In wrapping up the discussion, Gilles assured the panel they’d be very impressed with what’s coming in the next 12-16 months. Just sit back and listen for yourself!
Posted on: April 8, 2011 – 3:23 pm by RLD
Now that we have your attention, head over to www.Dodge.com/FastFive to get all the behind the scenes action, learn more about the movie and cars and check out the 2011 Dodge Charger. As if that was not enough to get your heart pounding, the site also features an exclusive sweepstakes to win one of five custom Fast Five Edition 2011 Charger R/Ts that we will feature right here on RLD. Good luck and don’t forget to catch the movie in theaters nationally April 29th.
2011 Spring Festival of LX’s held in Irvine, California was the event that the first glimpse of Fatchance 2.0 was revealed. The first 2011 Chrysler 300C to be customized by car designer, John Fortuno.
Posted by hipstomp | 21 Mar 2011 | Comments (1)
We love seeing designers speak with passion, and it’s a bit startling, though satisfying, to see when the designer in question works for a large corporation but has not had that passion beaten out of him. If anything, it’s quite the opposite in the case of Ralph Gilles.
Something appears to be going very right over at Dodge, where CEO Gilles is both an industrial designer and relatively young at just 40 years of age. As Gilles describes himself in an interview with Forbes,
I don’t see myself as the classic car designer that’s all about style. I’m always thinking about the business case, the big picture implications of whatever we’re working on, the engineering challenges. A true industrial designer is more of a problem solver. A true artist tends to make a singular piece that stands almost in a museum by itself, whereas an industrial designer is designing a solution for millions of people.
Anyways, back to the passion—check out this vid of Gilles speaking the design gospel at the Los Angeles Auto Show after the jump:
