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Giving a truck the face of an off-roading giant
Fox Factory has become one of the most powerful brands in the world of off-roading, earning its reputation by building shock absorbers that can take punishment in the harshest of environments. Their work have been tested in the most extreme conditions with enormous success, having supported multiple championship winning teams in the Baja 1000, the Mint 400, the King of the Hammers, and many other off-road gauntlets.
In 2022, Fox looked to extend the face of their brand by building a truck inspired by the race winning vehicles they helped support. Sporting major performance upgrades like a Whipple supercharger, 37” tires, bespoke Method wheels, and an all-new mid-travel suspension kit, the Fox Factory Silverado personifies the brand’s racing prowess into a monster off-roading package, ready for people to drive straight off dealership lots and into gravel trenches across the country.
MISSION:
Develop an exterior concept that reflects the performance reputation of Fox Factory over a Silverado Chassis.
FOX FACTORY SILVERADO
The 4 design criteria
When evaluating goals, it became clear that the Fox Factory team wanted something that was well beyond a typical up-fitted truck. It needed to be something that could be the bedroom-poster-car version of a pickup truck. It needed to feel aspirational in its design, and ultimately make a statement about Fox Factory’s intentions as it expands its product territory into the production vehicle market.
To help guide discussions amongst the design team and project stakeholders, 4 design criteria were written out, helping to establish the storyline for the truck’s development.
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The vehicle should look like it could have been produced by an established OEM. Design lines should flow with the rest of the body to transform the exterior of the vehicle without disrupting features fixed into other components that are not being redesigned.
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In the same way that sports cars gain cues from various track-based race cars, the look of “performance” should be inspired from off-road race vehicles that Fox Factory has supported. This ensures that people can find familiar cues to help them understand that this truck is not just a stylized Silverado.
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Fox Factory has a specific design language derived from the machined look of many of its core shock products. Hard chamfers, angles, and perfect mathematical should be considered when developing the design of the truck.
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The truck should be identifiable from a distance, so creating distinct elements that can distinguish the truck from similar products should be considered throughout the whole design process.
THE CULTURE OF DESERT RACING
It’s one thing to assume the values of your target audience, but it’s another thing to understand the excitement for what they love. To dive deep into the world of off-road racing culture, our team flew to San Diego to experience desert off-roading in Fox’s prototype Silverado. Along the way, we met with trophy truck builders and drivers, examined several race vehicles up-close, and got the scoop on what makes the culture of desert racing unique. It’s an extreme lifestyle, one that is defined by the love of adrenaline, absurdity, and a sense of humor that is often times playfully juvenile. Desert race culture is colorful, loud, and brutally honest in every way possible.
The trophy trucks themselves also reflect these values in their design. Every detail has a no B.S. attitude about it - purely functional and strong as hell for the sake of surviving extreme conditions. The sheer size and scale of every part leaves them to be cartoonish in proportion due to the punishment they consistently take. Huge fenders, gigantic tires, massive exhaust, exposed hardware…there is nothing subtle about these machines, even in the tiny nooks and crannies.
Defining the Concepts
Over the course of several months, multiple sketches were drawn out overtop the Silverado Chassis as well as in sketchbooks to discover features, themes, and small details Fox could use to make this truck unique. Practical issues were also addressed in this phase. How should parking sensors be treated? Are we working with flares, or full fender replacements? How much of the silhouette can we change?
After exploring details, the ideas got assembled into two concepts, which provided a story and selling point for key stakeholders to evaluate: one which looked to nod to racing legends of the past, and another that went full-beans on the trophy truck look.
Legends of motorsport often times become the catalyst for automotive obsessions during childhood. Adulthood then becomes the opportunity to own that one dream car which was so admired during someone’s youth. The “Heritage” concept builds upon this idea by examining classic Baja race winners and turning them into a modern street legal truck. Why not give customers to own something similar to what their heroes drove? Larry Ragland’s 1997 Chevrolet became the primary inspiration for this concept, referencing iconic elements such as the rear wing and square body surfaces transplanted from the race truck, then draped over a modern Silverado chassis.
CONCEPT 2
Total Trophy Truck
If childhood dreams were not the right attitude for the audience in question, then maybe grafting ideas from modern race vehicles might be the answer. With the “Total Trophy Truck” concept, the goal was to take as many signature features of a modern trophy truck as possible and cram them onto the Silverado framework. Bulging fenders, tube steel accents, and the signature “dogbone” sillouhette of modern racers define the key features of this concept. Hard edges and polygonal chamfered surfaces add a touch of tech flavor as a nod to the Fox Factory design language.
CONCEPT 1
“Heritage”
FINAL DESIGN
The final design became a tamer version of the “Total Trophy Truck” concept, smoothing out the faceted surfaces to better match the design language of the Silverado, and then refining the tube steel bumpers to something that better resembles an actual trophy truck’s space frame construction. The front fender vent and the flat-top rear fenders from the “Heritage” concept were added to the mix, creating a less outlandish design that beefed up the Silverado enough to reflect Fox Factory’s commitment to hardcore performance. Other design team members refined the deeper details of this concept, such as the hood vent, front and rear fender vents, chase rack, bumper details, and the light holsters around the headlights.
