2021 Ford F-150 Looks to Avoid Enemies

Given that domestic full-size pickups generate more money for their respective builders than a war bonds drive, every redesign is fraught with danger.

OEMs walk an especially fine line in this segment, fearful of making a vehicle too bland or too similar to the previous generation, but understandably nervous about breaking out of the box and alienating loyal return customers. Polarizing styling isn’t a recipe for success — the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado taught us a lesson about that (though GM might disagree).

As it prepares for a launch later this year, spy shots of the upcoming Ford F-150 reveal enough to show Ford’s playing it safe… but not too safe.

Thursday brought photos of a lightly disguised 2021 F-150 SuperCrew tooling around Michigan, photos which we don’t have. We can point you in the right direction, however, as the world’s most important vehicle deserves a good look.

Your author is of the opinion that the F-150’s most recent refresh offered no visual improvements to the 13th-generation model, which bowed for 2015. On the other hand, Ram earns applause for replacing, after a full decade, the still-in-production 1500 Classic with a model this writer can’t say a bad word about, design-wise. The Silverado is another story, though we should all be thankful GMC kept its adventurous streak in check.

As seen in the photos linked to above, the 2021 F-150 seems to blend what’s good about the new-for-2019 Ram and GMC offerings. C-shaped LED running lamps surround stacked head lamps, seemingly mimicking the Sierra, while the grille becomes less rectangular in nature, donning a thick chrome border and securing the Blue Oval logo with a similarly shiny crossbar. Black honeycomb mesh fills the F-150’s mouth. Ford avoids further Ram associations by keeping that chrome away from the headlamps’ borders, except for their most inboard point.

The new pickup’s face does harken more than a bit to the smaller Ranger, though the grille shape is not a match. Foglamps grow horizontally, and are no longer contained within a pair of bumper openings.

To the untrained eye, the cab looks like a direct carryover, while the tail lamps and lenses evolve into a slightly new shape. Nothing here looks like something that’s going to put off a Ford diehard, which suits Dearborn’s purposes just fine. As the best-selling vehicle in America since the Pilgrims landed, Ford knows not to mess too much with a good thing (the current-gen’s aluminum body swap being an exception to that rule). No Cybertruck clone with bed-mounted e-scooter deployer here, though avante-garde truck buyers will have a hybrid version to choose from when the model goes on sale later this year. Come 2021, an all-electric version joins the fray.

[Image: Ford]