The 2010 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 edition was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show this week. This multi-award winning vehicle is delivering a new standard of "custom cool," combining the smooth handling and legendary durability of America's best selling truck with the authentic styling of Harley-Davidson, the industry leader in motorcycles. Matt O'Leary, Chief Engineer, explained why Ford decided to build another Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 edition.
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"F-Series has been the best selling truck for 32-years in a row and you don't maintain that leadership position by backing down, we've had a great partnership with Harley-Davidson since 2000 and this is a way to bring out a niche vehicle for our customers, who are buying at the luxury end, it really fits the Harley image, what we call "custom cool" and so we're going to provide customers what they're looking for." :22 sec. |
O'Leary says their customers are luxury truck buyers, with disposable income. |
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"They love the combination of the Ford Built Tough and having that capability, along with a little bit of rebellious, ya know, a chance to kind of let it go and we've got so many cues that tie-in the Harley it's really a great blending of both brands without losing their distinct identity." :19 sec. |
Consumers will notice the new styling cues that tie-in the Harley-Davidson and F-150 both inside and out. |
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On the exterior, different fascia, a billet grill, which is really sharp, we've got kind of the smoked out headlamps and tail lamps the power deployable running boards that really make it look like it's lowered and then the 22-inch wheels and tires make it look really stunning." :17 sec. |
Meanwhile the interior is customized to appeal to the truck buyer who appreciates the attention to detail for which both Ford and Harley-Davidson are renowned. |
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On the interior we were kind of thinking about some of the Harley motor clothes and tried to make the seats look a lot like a Harley jacket, with some of the ribbed leather features, cloisonné badges which you only find on the very high end Harley motorcycles so we're bringing that in this year both on the seats and on the console." :20 sec. |
Under the hood the Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 edition will house a 5.4 liter three-valve engine which is rated up to 320 horsepower and 390 ft.-lbs. of torque mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with a sport-tuned exhaust, but that's not all. |
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"What's new for us this year is all-wheel drive, which is unique to Harley, and the functionality is better than what we've had in prior years we've added a two-high selection in addition to all-wheel drive and four-high. Two-high is a two-wheel drive version which is very good on fuel mileage and the all- wheel drive is great for wet traction or in the snow or Four-High." :24 sec. |
This marks the 14th Harley-Davidson edition of an F-Series Truck and will appear in showrooms come this fall. |