Meet the New Design Chief Who Will Shape the Future of Dodge, Jeep, and Ram

Meet the New Design Chief Who Will Shape the Future of Dodge, Jeep, and Ram originally appeared on Autoblog.

The move comes as the new CEO moves to reverse the automaker’s flagging fortunes

Following the recent announcement that Gilles Vidal will lead Stellantis design for its European brands, the automaker has named Scott Krugger head of North America Design for Stellantis, reporting to Antonio Filosa, Stellantis North America's Chief Operating Officer and new CEO. The newly-created position will be responsible for guiding the design and creative direction of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. Vidal is the former vice president of design at Renault Group.

Altogether, the two design chiefs will be responsible for 14 iconic automobile brands. Both appointments are crucial steps in Chief Design Officer Ralph Gilles’s new design organization, which combines strong regional autonomy with global corporate expertise.

Who is Scott Krugger?

After graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Art, Krugger went to Daimler-Chrysler for more than ten years, and led Jeep and Alfa Romeo design for five years. During his career, he has been involved with the design of the Chrysler PT Cruiser, Chrysler Pacifica, Ram 1500, Alfa Romeo Tonale, Dodge Charger, and the exterior design of the fifth-generation Dodge Viper. He has also been in charge of SRT and Dodge design since 2022, and was most recently a key player in the design of Dodge’s first battery electric car, the Charger Daytona SRT.

“Scott’s appointment in North America and Gilles’ arrival in Europe are key to our new design organization,” Ralph Gilles said. “With Scott’s immense design talent and proven leadership in North America and Gilles’ award-winning track record in Europe, we are opening a new chapter of creative excellence with the rollout of our organization.”

New org chart for a slimmed-down Stellantis

Stellantis’s reorganized design studios are now led by a formidable triumvirate of design leaders, each with substantial market-specific knowledge. In contrast to the new appointments, the automaker has recently reduced its executive ranks in an effort to form a leaner leadership team at the top of the company. It now has nine executives, down from 30, which should allow for faster and more efficient decisions.

“We've been working on pushing down a lot of the decision-making within the organization into the regions, where we can do a better job of addressing issues as they occur, but also tailoring the product, tailoring the mix, tailoring the approach to local markets,” Chief Financial Officer Doug Ostermann said.

Stellantis ended 2024 with declining sales, unhappy retailers, and a notably smaller market share, reporting a net loss of $2.7 billion in the first half of 2025, versus a $6.4 billion profit for the same period a year ago. Total revenues declined to $86 billion, down 13% year-over-year. Clearly, more regional autonomy is needed, something that atrophied under the stewardship of former CEO Carlos Taveras.

“My first weeks as CEO have reconfirmed my strong conviction that we will fix what’s wrong in Stellantis by capitalizing on everything that’s right in Stellantis—starting from the strength, energy, and ideas of our people, combined with the great new products we are now bringing to market,” Filosa said.

Final thoughts

The reorganization of Stellantis’s design leadership, which has been planned for months, bodes well for a revitalization of the company, which had calcified under the heavy-handed guidance of former CEO Carlos Tavares. The slimmed-down executive team and the ability of regions to exercise greater autonomy should help the sprawling corporation to manage its extensive portfolio of brands better. The results can already be seen in the debut of the Ram 1500 Express, a product that emerged at the request of its dealer network, in the return of the Hemi V8 and beloved SRT brand, as well as in the return of effective executives like Tim Kuniskis. With these latest design appointments, Stellantis is ready for its turnaround.

Meet the New Design Chief Who Will Shape the Future of Dodge, Jeep, and Ram first appeared on Autoblog on Aug 6, 2025

This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Aug 6, 2025, where it first appeared.