Scott Kunselman joins Potential as strategic advisor
31 January 2024
We are delighted to announce that we’ve appointed Scott Kunselman, former chief engineer at Ram Trucks and SVP for engineering at FCA, as strategic advisor.
Scott’s experience couldn’t be more perfect for Potential. He spent a combined 30 years at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA, now part of Stellantis) in a series of impressive engineering and executive roles, culminating in overseeing vehicle safety across the entire company.
“It’s fair to say that Scott has an unrivaled understanding of the world of mass-market off-road vehicles from both a technical and business perspective,” says Sam Poirier, CEO of Potential.
That’s putting it mildly! Scott joined Chrysler (parent company of Ram Trucks and perhaps the most famous off-road brand of all time - Jeep) in 1985, and spent 14 years in product development across multiple departments, including powertrain and chassis.
In 2005, he was made chief engineer, responsible for Ram Trucks. Just four years later, he was named SVP for engineering and product development across FCA, the eighth-largest automotive manufacturer in the world.
"What the team is building at Potential could revolutionize both on and off-road vehicles.” says Scott. “I am thrilled to help bring their cutting-edge technology to widespread adoption in cars, trucks, and SUVs."
Deep technical and product insights help shape scalability
As a former engineer in the off-road space, Scott understands how our automotive customers adapt to and adopt new technologies. Just as importantly, through his executive roles Scott has gained an intrinsic understanding of how our clients meet the needs of their customers - vehicle owners and drivers. In short, Scott knows what our automotive customers care about and what they want to purchase, which will help us design irresistible products that scale for success.
The ability to scale our products is a vital consideration here at Potential, given that the recreational off-road vehicle market alone is expected to reach $16bn by 2033*. That figure is dwarfed in comparison to SUVs, which are expected to create a market worth $125bn by 2030**. Our technologies are suitable for every single vehicle in those categories.
“We’re already working with major brands in the automotive space, but Scott’s appointment will help supercharge our development and full-scale roll-out,” says Sam.
“What the team is building at Potential could revolutionize both on and off-road vehicles.”
In his final role before retiring from FCA after three decades in the automotive industry, Scott was charged with heading up vehicle safety. This included leading on regulatory compliance.
“We often describe our technologies as ‘ADAS for off-road’, with driver safety being at the forefront of what we do,” says Bill Lamey, CTO of Potential.
“By solving the challenges presented by off-road terrain, we help our customers solve their biggest safety challenges on the road too. As we work towards rolling out our terrain perception technologies to vehicles of all types - not just those that go off-road - Scott’s experience in safety and regulatory compliance will be invaluable.”
Scott joins our team of brilliant strategic advisors, who include Marcel Lebrun and Chris Newton of Radian6 (acquired by SalesForce) and IBM’s Q1 Labs, as well as Mark Benioff's TIME Ventures and Brightspark Ventures. Together, these advisors are helping to ensure that our people and our forward-looking technology reach their full…well, you know.
*https://finance.yahoo.com/news/off-road-vehicle-market-accelerate-120000140.html
**https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-suv-market