In an effort to tease its future plans, Jeep recently released a video that, among other things, showed a Wrangler driving underwater. Surely they went a bit too far with that one?
Speaking to the Detroit Free Press last week, Jeep CEO Christian Meunier went a little deeper into what the automaker was getting at with the scene.
“There is a little wink we have at the end, which is probably post-2030, but I know a lot of enthusiasts and a lot of our communities are requesting it,” Meunier said. “There are some crazy, very amazing people in the Jeep community who do that type of thing already with an ICE, so you can imagine with a battery car what it would be.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVLBzKyWjmc&t=130s
The suggestion here is that an electric powertrain needs no air to operate, unlike a gas or diesel-powered Wrangler. So, if the electrical system is kept water-tight (something you’d kind of hope it would be anyway), there’s nothing stopping the SUV from submerging itself entirely and driving underwater – at least in theory.
But that’s not a random example that Jeep has picked up on. It’s something that’s been done before, as Meunier hinted at in the quote above. Perhaps the best-known example of a Jeep driving underwater comes from the Motor Trend Channel’s Dirt Every Day episode 54.
Published in 2016, the video shows host Fred Williams installing a Cummins diesel engine into a Jeep Wrangler TJ with some bosozoku-style pipes attached to allow to breathe while driving across a 12-foot (3.6-meter) deep pond.
Of course, it’s all a bit more complicated than simply adding a tall intake and exhaust pipes. Plus, the whole point here is that the automaker is claiming making the switch to electric power won’t deduct anything from what makes a Jeep a Jeep. Which, at the end of the day, is what its customers want.