MACKINAC ISLAND, MI- Ralph V. Gilles is Chrysler through and through.

This year marks the New York native's 20th year at the Auburn Hills-based automaker, third year since becoming Chrysler senior vice president of product design and one-year anniversary of becoming SRT (Street and Racing Technology) & SRT Motorsport CEO.

But Gilles, best known for designing the Chrysler 300 sedan, said the automotive “fire” in him started more than three decades ago.

"One thing that's a common thread between me as a student and me as a professional is I still have the same fire in my belly that I had when I was a kid," Gilles told MLive.com. "From the first time I saw a Porsche 911 Turbo on a street when I was 7 years old, and now, it's the same."

The 40-year-old Gilles, an alumnus of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, sat down with MLive.com following a presentation at the Mackinac Policy Conference last month to talk about his past, SRT and the future of design for Chrysler.

Q: How does someone get one of the best jobs in the industry? What would you say to students of CCS in Detroit that want to become you?

Q: You said something interesting during your speech. You said a lot of people are going for non-traditional degrees; obviously CCS deals with that, do you think students should be going more toward that kind of degree?

Q: I know you don't speak about future models, but what are Chrysler's design plans for the future?

Q: And why separate SRT as its own brand?

2013 SRT Viper 43 Gallery: 2013 SRT Viper

Q: SRT vehicles are obviously not high volume in terms of sales, but the SRT Viper blew away the New York Auto Show. What are your expectations for that vehicle? And how does it help the brand in general?

Q: Anything else about the SRT brand or where Chrysler's design is going in the next 5-10 years?

Editor's note: This interview was edited for length and clerical purposes.

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