After months of teasing, Jeep has finally dropped the coyness and fully revealed the 2024 Wagoneer S, the brand’s first full battery-electric vehicle , at an event in downtown Manhattan on Thursday.
That said, Jeep surprised the media at the reveal event by also showing a Trailhawk concept of the S, with 75 millimetres more ground clearance, improved approach and departure angles, gnarly off-road tires and deep-water fording capability. Jeep didn’t say what powertrain it might have. Externally, the Wagoneer S introduces a reimagining of Jeep’s traditional seven-slot grille. Freed of the need to cool an internal combustion engine, designers concocted a new illuminated “grille” structure inspired by modern architecture. At the rear, a bold free-standing wing helps achieve a drag coefficient of 0.29 – very slippery for an SUV, and achieved without making the vehicle look like “a lozenge,” said design chief Ralph Gilles. That’s about 15 per cent lower than the average SUV.
Other than the Select-Terrain traction management system with Auto, Sport, Eco, Snow and Sand modes, the Launch Edition isn’t equipped for rock-crawling or river-fording: the suspension is fixed at a modest 6.4 inches of ground clearance.