Leaner and meaner.
Tangent together with iconic performance manufacturer Shelby and Elkhart based premium truck up-fitter Tuscany Motor Co., teamed up to design & develop the 2024 Shelby Baja Raptor, the latest offering in a long line of Shelby performance trucks. Tangent’s responsibilities included the design and development of numerous proprietary parts, including an injection molded grille with accents, metal fab front and rear bumpers, and a custom chase rack.
Inspired by Shelby’s rich racing and performance heritage, as well as previous collaborations between Tangent and Shelby, Tangent worked with Shelby and Tuscany to push this latest iteration of the Baja Raptor to its functional and aesthetic limits.
Let me see your grille.
Ford’s stock Raptor and Raptor R already make an aggressive statement, and it was Tangent and Shelby’s intention to top it with an even bolder grille and front facia. Removing the central bar, and maximining the open air was critical to achieving the performance Shelby desired. This effort also achieved a more aggressive grille profile, allowing for a more pronounced “A” frame lower accent, a with secondary body color accent that pulls the Shelby stripes and branding toward the low-profile metal bumper.
Form meets function.
Tangent began the development process with a combination of 2D sketching, and VRED based underlays of the new Ford F-150 Raptor, to ensure that every sketched detail and component would accurately reflect its real-life counterpart.
In addition to a reworked grille, Tangent also designed front and rear fabricated steel bumpers, designed specifically for high intensity off-roading. These bumpers incorporate high vis-led lights as well as custom tow hooks and skid-plates designed for the trail.
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 Tangent with critical insights into the design and scale of each of the Shelby F-150’s numerous exterior upgrades.
Utilizing VRED’s powerful rendering software, Tangent was able to visualize the Shelby F-150 in real time, generating photo real images for marketing materials and client reviews, ensuring that every image would be of a consistent quality and accuracy for client evaluations and design discussions.
The 2024 Shelby F-150 made its debut in June of this year and is limited to only 800 models.
