EDITORIAL: Making the case for simple, robust ‘core’ engineering

Automotive designers often draw our attention to styling elements that appear simple, but in truth are incredibly complex. “Complicated simplicity” is a phrase also coined in architecture and fashion, when there's more going on than meets the eye.

The same often is true in vehicle engineering. Prompting my thoughts here: the slot-faced vehicle on this month's cover: a red 2018 Jeep Wrangler churning steadily forward through water that is above its hubs- and probably well above its crankshaft axis. Wrangler is the only contemporary vehicle I can think of whose accessory catalogs include a deep-water fording kit (quite popular) and enormous manual jacks-the latter to be used more for levering your high-centered vehicle off some mountainside rock, than for changing flat tires.