Jeep reshapes its iconic Wrangler with slippery brick styling

Bloomberg

The engineers of the Jeep Wrangler had a conundrum: How do you redesign one of the most iconic SUVs on the road to survive tougher fuel economy standards without abandoning the brick-like shape that’s essential to its appeal?
At first glance, the styling of the next-generation Wrangler doesn’t appear to have changed all that much. But a bend here and a curve there improved aerodynamics by 9 percent, according to Mike Manley, Jeep’s brand chief.
“That’s not a small improvement for a vehicle of that style and shape,” Manley said in an interview. Subtle changes to the exterior, combined with lighter-weight materials and less fuel-thirsty powertrains, will “future-proof” Jeep’s direct descendant from rugged World War II battlefield vehicles, he said.
It’s crucial to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV that Jeep engineers make their sport utility vehicles more efficient.
While the lucrative brand is the crown jewel in Sergio Marchionne’s empire, Jeep is going to command the rich valuation that the deal-making chief executive officer is looking for only if it has a credible plan for regulatory compliance.
The Wrangler still has Jeep’s trademark seven-slot grille. But there’s now a subtle bend about two thirds of the way up that allows air to flow more efficiently over the face of the SUV and stay snug across the hood.
Powering a car down the road is essentially like punching a hole in the air, said Brian Leyes, the Wrangler’s chief engineer. The vehicle’s size and shape determines the scale of the hole, and then aerodynamics affect how efficiently the vehicle gets through it. There was total unanimity about where to draw the line. The last acceptable angle was also the one that produced the best overall aerodynamics.
The side mirrors of the 2018 aren’t any smaller than on the current model, but they are shaped to allow air to pass by more smoothly. The ability to slip through air also is made a little easier by a slight taper in the Wrangler’s roof that makes it an inch or so narrower at the back than in the front. The rearmost pillar of the SUV is more rounded, compared with the previous model.
The Wrangler also got a little longer and wider. One benefit of that, relative to US fuel economy rules, is that it lowers the bar for the model’s regulatory demands, which are based in part on the area covered by the vehicle. But if the standards for light trucks increase, the model will still face some challenges.