they're primarily to meet European pedestrian safety standards. Common on BMW, MB, Audi/VW and other manufacturers designs now. Keeps pedestrian head impact low or something if they're stupid enough to walk out in front of your car and get hit by it. Not a huge issue yet in the US but probably will be soon. They also can tweak the 'fangs' to serve some downforce purpose albeit not to the extent that a full on air dam/splitter up front can serve on high performance models.
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