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With the increasing emphasis on and importance of aerodynamics on vehicle fuel economy and handling, conservative approaches to sizing front-end cooling openings based on projected radiator area need to be replaced by a performance-based method. The method would not only allow more flexibility in front-end styling, but would enable the design of the grille, cooling hardware and vehicle heat rejection requirements to be based on the cooling performance of the total vehicle. The reductions in cooling drag and front lift from smaller, but more functional, grille openings would improve vehicle fuel economy and handling. A performance-based front-end design approach is described in the paper along with some selected experimental results. The method is based on an experimental technique for simultaneously measuring the total radiator airflow and vehicle aerodynamic performance in an aerodynamic wind tunnel.