Tom Liu is a fan of Raptors. The four-wheeled variety. The winged version. The veloci-type? Maybe.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Liu, the 30-year-old lead exterior designer of the 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor, looked to the F-22 fighter for inspiration while designing the latest iteration of the Ford truck.
“Active U.S. military and veterans are a big customer base for us on F-150 Raptor, so I wanted to bring the spirit of F-22 Raptor on board with this third generation,” said Liu, a native of Guangzho, China, who credits the World War II volunteer “Flying Tigers” with saving the lives of his family members.
“To work on an icon like this really means the world to me.”
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Liu’s enthusiasm for auto and aviation design took hold at an early age, he said, when, as a child, he would immerse himself in building one model…
