The All-Electric Jeep Wagoneer S Has a Massive Rear Wing

In the late Sixties, Mopar brands Dodge and Plymouth shocked the world by putting massive rear wings on their "aero car" NASCAR homologation specials, the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Super Bird. That company has since become Stellantis, and the modern iteration is back to putting massive wings in places you do not expect. Stellantis already showed off one such wing on the front of the Dodge Charger Daytona EV, and now we get one on the back of the Jeep Wagoneer S electric SUV.

Like the Charger's "R-Wing," the Jeep Wagoneer S uses the aerodynamic element not to generate downforce. Instead it's there to keep drag coefficient down while maintaining the blocky and muscular shape buyers expect from the brand. If you examine the silhouette of the Jeep not disguised by the wing, you see a crossover that looks more like the egg-shaped new Macan and angular Toyota bZ4x. The wing juts out above and past that roofline, creating the illusion of a more traditional Jeep shape that is only shattered when looking directly at the roofline. From the side, the illusion is perfect.

Thanks to the main shape hidden by the wing, the confoundingly-named Wagoneer S has a drag coefficient of 0.294, comparable to the original Toyota Prius. Hidden underneath that body is a surprisingly slick shape, one that reflects the natural fluid dynamic advantages of a fish. Designer Ralph Gilles says that the car is "more inspired by a shark," tapered from the center on back and building toward a rounded end.

"We certainly didn't want to create a vehicle that looked like a fish," Gilles said. "When you look at a lot of electric cars, they kind of have this jelly bean fishy kind of look, which I can't stand. So we gave the vehicle some character and that's what the R wing is about. It’s about propping up the back end and giving it some character."

Gilles added that the wing itself is actually useful, although the use case came later in development. The bent shape, he says, closes the air behind the vehicle and brings it closer to the target requested by Chief Engineering and Technology Officer Ned Kuric. That increases the estimated range to over 300 miles on a single charge, 40 miles more than the new Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack on the same 100.5-kWh battery. More importantly, thanks to the R-wing, the Wagoneer S can have that range without looking like a fish.

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