What is it?
Ford Mighty F-350 Tonka
What's special about it?
Did you know that Tonka means "great" in Sioux? We thought it was just a rough-and-tumble toy from childhood. Eager to capitalize on a beloved toy from those halcyon days, Ford has formed an alliance with Tonka to create this aggressively styled concept vehicle.
The first thing you'll notice is that it's yellow. Bright yellow. The Mighty 350 rides on 22-inch wheels, dual in the rear, housed in exaggerated flared wheel arches. And with an abundance of chrome ladled all around the pronounced front grille and side mirrors, you'll attract attention from all who share your road. In case you decide not to pay attention to them, a camera-operated lane departure warning system warns you if you've drifted outside your lane.
Inside we saw what Ford design guru J Mays described as "tough luxury"; no faux wood trim clutters the interior in a pretense to opulence. Rather, it's decorated with industrial-themed aluminum and stainless steel trim. Getting in there with little resistance is possible thanks to the air suspension that allows the truck to kneel 5 inches for easier ingress/egress, complemented by automatically deploying running boards.
But it's not just a pretty face. Beating beneath the domed hood is a 6.0-liter Power Stroke Super-600V-8 turbocharged diesel engine, still in its development stages, mated to a five-speed PowerTorq automatic tranny. Together they foment 350 horsepower and an astounding 600 pound-feet of torque. As if that weren't enough, an experimental Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA) system is being researched; it sounds like an ingenious system that recovers the wasted energy when brakeforce is applied and stores it in the form of hydraulic pressure for use in acceleration. This should greatly increase fuel economy to the tune of an estimated 25 to 35 percent.
Why should you care?
Ford's execs maintain that this exuberantly rendered truck is more than just a design exercise; it embodies design cues that will be incorporated into future F-Series trucks. Furthermore it's a showcase for fascinating powertrain technology that we're sure we'll hear more about in the future. Most of all, we just like imagining those rascally Ford execs in expensive suits crawling on the floor with Tonka trucks making vroom vroom noises. — Liz Kim
Ford Mighty F-350 Tonka
What's special about it?
Did you know that Tonka means "great" in Sioux? We thought it was just a rough-and-tumble toy from childhood. Eager to capitalize on a beloved toy from those halcyon days, Ford has formed an alliance with Tonka to create this aggressively styled concept vehicle.
The first thing you'll notice is that it's yellow. Bright yellow. The Mighty 350 rides on 22-inch wheels, dual in the rear, housed in exaggerated flared wheel arches. And with an abundance of chrome ladled all around the pronounced front grille and side mirrors, you'll attract attention from all who share your road. In case you decide not to pay attention to them, a camera-operated lane departure warning system warns you if you've drifted outside your lane.
Inside we saw what Ford design guru J Mays described as "tough luxury"; no faux wood trim clutters the interior in a pretense to opulence. Rather, it's decorated with industrial-themed aluminum and stainless steel trim. Getting in there with little resistance is possible thanks to the air suspension that allows the truck to kneel 5 inches for easier ingress/egress, complemented by automatically deploying running boards.
But it's not just a pretty face. Beating beneath the domed hood is a 6.0-liter Power Stroke Super-600V-8 turbocharged diesel engine, still in its development stages, mated to a five-speed PowerTorq automatic tranny. Together they foment 350 horsepower and an astounding 600 pound-feet of torque. As if that weren't enough, an experimental Hydraulic Launch Assist (HLA) system is being researched; it sounds like an ingenious system that recovers the wasted energy when brakeforce is applied and stores it in the form of hydraulic pressure for use in acceleration. This should greatly increase fuel economy to the tune of an estimated 25 to 35 percent.
Why should you care?
Ford's execs maintain that this exuberantly rendered truck is more than just a design exercise; it embodies design cues that will be incorporated into future F-Series trucks. Furthermore it's a showcase for fascinating powertrain technology that we're sure we'll hear more about in the future. Most of all, we just like imagining those rascally Ford execs in expensive suits crawling on the floor with Tonka trucks making vroom vroom noises. — Liz Kim
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