2015 Ford F-150 vs. Atlas concept: What has changed?

"boxrocket" (boxrocket) 01/14/2014 at 01:47 • Filed to: ford, f150, f-150, truck, truckyeah, concept, production, detroit, dearborn, naias

1

8

*************Note: Nibbles is preventing pictures from loading, which I will try to remedy tomorrow Scroll to the second comment to see how the article is supposed to appear. Thank you.************

So as you have no doubt discovered, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! has been revealed, and it's pretty close to the Atlas concept, but with the Ford-typical assortment of cabins, beds, grilles, accessories, etc. Before the big reveal, there was much speculation as to what the production truck would look like. So let's take a design-focused look and see what actually has changed.

Now, before we begin, we must acknowledge that the Atlas was, of course, a concept, and certain things wouldn't have made it to production anyway, due to cost, federal regulations, or they just being a designer's fancy not intended for production. With that in mind, let's begin.

First, the Atlas seems to most-resemble the production F-150 XLT trim level (shown below), based on grilles and bright work. This makes sense, as the XLT seems to be the backbone of the fleet, being high-enough on the ladder to warrant a few options, but not so high as to make it unreasonable for most families like the Platinum, Limited, Harley Davidson, or King Ranch trims might be.

Let's start with the fronts:

With the XLT and Atlas, the front ends look pretty darn similar. The shape and size of the fog lights seem tweaked, the tow hooks have been moved from the bumper below the grille to below the bumper as on the current models, and the Atlas has the LED headlamps which are an option on certain trim levels. Other than that, they're very close. Concept to production: 9.5/10

Moving on to the sides, now:

(Apologies for the quality of the F-150 sides, since there don't seem to be any decent side-shots right now, so the top one is from a .gif on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the lower one is a Snip of the 360-degree tool)

Overall, the sides haven't changed much, either. The gas tank has a small bump for one to grab with their finger to open, and the rocker panel details have been tweaked somewhat, and the bed rail covers are expectedly different, but that's about it. Concept to production: 9.75/10.

Let's look at the rears now.

Here we start to see the biggest differences between the concept and production model. The tail lights are different – same overall shape, different detailing, perhaps so that there's less resemblance to the gm twins, or to continue the tried-and-true dominance of the red tail lamp with a small integrated reverse lamp, as it has been for decades with Ford Trucks (save a specific Ranger model that I don't recall what it is, specifically). The tail pipes are different, with the new truck continuing the side-exhaust exit behind the rear wheel as has been the norm for decades. That said, there are some obvious similarities: the rear bumper and tailgate are shaped the same on both the Atlas and production truck, and on a majority of trims, the badges are located in the same place as on the Atlas, an exception being the Platinum trim (below). Overall, the rear remains true to the concept, losing the dual-look tail lamps in favor of LED trim strips.

I understand that the integrated tailgate step has been evolved, but whether or not that includes the ladder rack function as on the Atlas (below) I have yet to have confirmed.

Concept to production: 9.5/10.

Overall, I like the rear, but as the son of a contractor, I'm disappointed that Ford opted to continue to invade the empty space of the tailgate with detailing, as it has been since the 2009 model, such that if a company wants to put logos or decals on the tailgate, they either have to work around the detailing and use less space, or work through it and have it typically turn out awkwardly, or forego having any logos on the back at all. Granted, the gm twins are also doing this, and Ram has a fair amount of curvature on their tailgate, so none of the major players are making this concession, but it's still a mild annoyance.

Now we move on to the roof:

No surprises here. The concept roof never seemed destined for production. In exchange, we get a much larger moon roof – the largest in the segment – and retain the windshield cut-in on the leading edge of the roofline, which hopefully will allow users to have to use their visors less to block the sun, though it seems too small to be of much use. The shape of the windshield will likely drive replacement costs up unless it somehow tucks under the roof cut-in and retains the typical rhombus shape. Of course, as blocky as the new front end is, I would imagine debris might be less likely to strike the windshield. Concept to production: 8/10.

Last, we'll evaluate the interior.

Again, no surprises, as the Atlas was a concept truck, and intended to wow and amaze, not stand up to daily abuse as a production pickup will. The shapes remain the same, minus the steering wheel, gear selector, rearview mirror, and seats, and the large center screen remains. Overall, the concept looks like an aftermarket customizer got to a production truck, and had a customer with a strong fondness for exposed metal. We can see that the previously-discussed windshield cut-in is likely more of a styling fancy than actually functional, so passengers will still have to rely on the tint strip at the top of the windshield and their visors to clock the sun out. Concept to production: 9/10.

So, overall, the Atlas was a very thinly-disguised production truck, with a few bits and baubles to render it a concept and to upstage the ho-hum gm truck twins' reveal. The production truck looks very good overall, and leads the segment in design, definitively raising the bar the others will struggle to reach before raising it yet again in a few years with the refreshed model. In the meantime, we have a new Super Duty to look forward to, which will likely take quite a few cues from its smaller sibling, and hopefully gm's relaunch of the Colorado and canyon midsize trucks will give Ford the kick they need to bring the global Ranger to the US, and the SUV that's based off it (Everest?)

boxrocket > boxrocket 01/14/2014 at 01:52

0

For some reason my pictures aren't posting. Please be patient while I try to resolve this. Been trying since about an hour after the truck was announced.

...nibbles.....

boxrocket > boxrocket 01/14/2014 at 02:47

1

This is how I had wanted the article to look. Darn you, Nibbles...

Meatcoma > boxrocket 01/14/2014 at 08:42

0

I've had this problem using a url link for pictures. I would have to DL the pics then upload them. Seems the url linking is working today.

boxrocket > Meatcoma 01/14/2014 at 09:05

0

Yeah, I've had that too, and also if I try to use image files that are anything but .jpgs (since I default save as .png or .tiff). It almost seems too late now as I had intended to publish it about an hour after the announcement yesterday, and didn't get done until 2AM this morning.

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > boxrocket 01/14/2014 at 09:19

0

Since you mentioned the Rangers having amber turn signals but not knowing which ones, it was from 93-2000. The gen 1s had bi-colors. With the update in 93 the ambers were added, but starting in 2001 they were back to the two color style.

boxrocket > Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey 01/14/2014 at 09:49

0

Thanks. I think there was also a trim level in the 2000s that had ambers, and seemed to use upside-down Mazda B-Series tail lamps.

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > boxrocket 01/14/2014 at 12:16

0

Unless I'm wrong, there shouldn't be any ambers after 2000 on Rangers. From 01-05 the tails looked like this across all trims

Then 06 on they had the reverse in the middle, like this

For 2000 you had the oddball with the reverse at the bottom

I think what you're thinking of is the difference in the ambers. When they had the ambers, they were on the bottom for 93-97, like this

Then for 98 and 99 you had this

The B-series lights should have amber throughout the production.

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey 01/14/2014 at 12:22

0

Damn kinja took half the lights. But anyway, the tail lights are one way to figure the year of the Rangers by looking. Other ways from the outside are wheels, grilles, and emblems.