Ford F-150 redesign puts customers at its (mighty) heart

The new Ford F-150, launched in the early hours of this morning, UK time, holds few surprises on the exterior, it is recognisably an F-150, look inside and the storage and truck-as-workplace solutions are beautifully resolved and carefully thought-out.

Also of particular note, is a 3.5-litre hybrid option for this best-selling piece of Americana, the Power Boost option, with an estimated range of 700 miles on a single tank of gas. As newcomers to the business have launched their electric options, many have questioned what the big players in this segment were up to, but this iteration of the F-150 makes it clear, careful, steady evolution, no shocks, but lots of attention to detail.

On the exterior, a steel frame supports an aluminium alloy exterior. The bonnet gets a power bulge, the waist has been trimmed and the big tyres have been pulled out to create a more commanding stance. Wraparound bumpers and higher front fenders complete the new look. There are multiple grille options, 11 in fact, and an automatically deploying air dam to improve aero performance. The new F-150 also gets a new headlight design, C-Clamp, which links nicely to some of the design features and shapes in the completely redesigned interior.

It is the mark of a well-designed product when you can visualise the customer when reviewing the design. All variants (and there are many) of the F-150 come with an integrated generator for chilling tailgate party beers, with a fully-integrated Pro Power (2KW-7.2KW) generator in the side. Ford’s first integrated generator also charges and runs tools, even while the truck is moving. The F-150 is more workman’s tool than party truck.

The redesigned tailgate comes with some clever touches to make it a better workbench, such as integrated ruler and clamp sockets built into the top of it, places for pens, cups and phones and an energy supply close at hand. It is in these touches that we see the intent of this design – even the indentations around the door handles have been made deeper to make the doors easier to open with gloved hands. Ford’s chief programme engineer Craig Schmatz told CDN that: ”A lot of our customers spend a lot of the day and sometimes nights in the vehicle so we really wanted to increase the functionality for them, to enable them to be much more productive in the cab. As well as more comfortable. So through a lot of observational research and a lot of talking to customers we knew that they would appreciate some of the key things that we are adding.”

Gallery: Exterior sketches

Inside, the F-150 reveals itself to be an impressive piece of industrial design - Ford’s team conducted extensive research into the habits and desires of its customers for this product. With 1/3 of customers using the cab as a workspace, Ford investigated the many workarounds people had developed to, for example, use a laptop comfortably inside the cab, and turned that into a neat (optional) solution whereby the gear shifter in the console folds away creating a work surface for a 15-inch laptop. Chief engineer Schmatz explained more: “The shifter folds flat down into the console and the arm rest splits in half and folds open, so it is very functional and great looking design… With everything in the interior we started with maximising functionality first and then delivering the comfort and appearance our customers are looking for.”

There are lots of neat and clever solutions like this in the cab (which we hope to get a closer look at) like the dual glove-box and the lockable storage box under the rear seats for tools and equipment. Certain models also feature lie-flat seats for sleeping or resting in the cab. The interior features more storage and better materials, along with a 12-inch, landscape screen. Functional buttons for climate and audio control still sit below the screen, because, as Schmatz explained, their customers told them they want a bigger screen but no decrease in functionality.

The IP is cradled by a chunky, 3D metal structure which runs the width of the cabin, below the flatscreen, acting as a tactile guide to the boundary between control buttons and digital tech. The horizontal beam of aluminium curves up and back around the air vents at each side of the IP, in a shape which echoes new C-clamp lighting signature. Everything in the interior of this cab looks robust and functional enough to operate with gloved hands but not clumsy. The proportions and volumes used give it a modern, product-design aesthetic.

There are also some more whimsical touches which hint at the group of people behind this redesign, a laser-etched applique of a map of Detroit is an option on the XLT Sport.

Stuart Taylor, executive director of enterprise connectivity at Ford, told CDN how the research worked with design and engineering: ”We put the truck at the centre and came up with this ’purposeful tech’ discussion and that drove a lot of the decisions about what we put in the truck. It was interesting, the request from the customers was: ‘no tech for tech’s sake, make it functional and make it something I can use all the time’ and that influenced a lot of the content that we put in, not just in how we designed the interior but in how we enabled some of the features and technology to be used with it. In terms of product design it was a great set of collaborations involving observing and listening to our customers, making sure we understood exactly what they were asking for and then coming up with solutions which we then tested against them. And said ’hey, what do you think of this?’ It was a very productive way of working.”

Gallery: Interior sketches

This 14th generation of F-150 has got a big connectivity upgrade, the main instrument display in front of the driver can be specced as a digital display (rather than two analogue dials with a 4-inch display between them).

The user interface has had a radical overhaul too. Ford has deployed version 4 of its Sync infotainment system to handle information, entertainment, mapping and music, and the F-150 also boasts a host of driver-assist technologies, including Active Drive and Intersection Assist – not quite level-5 autonomy, but a reassuringly careful step on the way. Over-the-air updates are standard and, as with the Mach-E, those updates can be scheduled to happen when the customer wants them to – reducing downtime.

The Ford F-150 is still (very much) built in America, and in a nod to its heritage there is an etching of the American flag on each side of the IP.

Gallery: F-150

The F-150 sets out to communicate toughness, capability, durability and power through its design end engineering, and it has certainly met the brief. We will be taking a closer look at the interior of the F1-150 in Interior Motives magazine in future. You can watch the official reveal here: