HD’s Boldest Expression Yet.
Tangent once again teamed up with iconic motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson and Elkhart based premium truck up-fitter Tuscany Motor Co. to design and develop the 2023 Harley Davidson F-250, the latest collaboration between Tangent, Tuscany, and Harley to date. Tangent’s responsibilities included the design and development of over 60 proprietary parts, as well as the creation of marketing material, and project coordination between the Harley and Tuscany teams.
Inspired by Harley’s rich heritage, and the rousing success of the first-generation HD F-250, Tangent worked closely with the Harley and Tuscany teams to design a truck that would be bolder than the previous generation. This included designing a new grille, with multiple layers of orange accents meant to accentuate the F-250’s revised grille architecture. In addition to the grille, a new bumper, with an injection molded center insert, and lower diffuser was also developed. This latest generation HD F-250 also features an updated light bar location, cleverly mounted between the bumper and grille, giving the F-250’s front light signature a more cohesive outline.
Further parts include a bold, multi-piece injection molded fender vent, unique to the HD-F250. The new fender vent incorporates Harley’s iconic bar & shield logo into the secondary accent and utilizes HD’s iconic orange hue in the fender vent’s main carrier, lending additional depth and detail to the vent’s active air flow features. Also new for 2023 is a revised rear badge and tailgate cover. The tailgate cover incorporates aggressive chamfered elements from the grille, giving the HD-F250 a holistic look from front to rear.
After settling on a 2D direction, Tangent set about developing the HD F-250’s various parts in Autodesk Alias, a 3D Class-A surfacing software. Tangent worked closely with Tuscany’s engineering team, and HD’s design team, to develop each thermoform, and injection molded part to an automotive level of fit and finish. After matching the sketches with concept CAD, Tangent worked to further develop the HD F-250’s parts for tooling, creating B-Sides, and prepping each part for its respective molding process.
Without the support of a full-size clay model to evaluate surfaces, Tangent turned to it’s in house, VRED powered, virtual reality set up to create a full-scale walk-through environment, which provided members of Harley-Davidson, Tuscany, and Tangent with critical insights into the design and scale of each of the F-250’s numerous exterior additions. Utilizing VRED’s powerful rendering software, Tangent was able to visualize the HD F-250 in real time, generating photo real images for marketing materials and client walk throughs.
You can learn more about the new Harley-Davidson F-250 at Tuscany’s website: https://www.tuscanymotorco.com/ford-f-250-harley-davidson
