The Maverick will represent Ford in the unibody compact pick-up truck race.
When it comes to pick-up trucks, the US has loads of variety. While they’re mostly large and almost universally built on tough ladder chassis, there’s an emerging class of pick-up that’s moving towards softroader use. The idea was first explored by Honda, who developed a unibody pick-up called the Ridgeline, which has been around for 2 generations now. Then a few months ago, Hyundai debuted the Santa Cruz, their own entry into the market. Today, Ford joins the fray with the Maverick.
The Maverick is small, much smaller than even the Ranger (which is considered mid-sized in the USA). Yet, the Maverick is also capable of seating 5 passengers and has four doors.
It is built on the Ford C2 platform, which is shared with the current generation Focus. Powering the Ford Maverick will be either the 2.0L Ecoboost petrol with an 8-speed conventional automatic or a 2.5L Duratec hybrid with an e-CVT.
That’s right, Hyundai wants to slap a dual-clutch transmission in a pick-up and now Ford wants to put a CVT in one. What is the world coming to?
The Ford Maverick is intended for the US market, for now. In its hybrid form, Ford expects it to return over 800km of range on a single tank of petrol. It will have a starting price of just under US$20,000 and be available as a front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive model. Will it come to the rest of the world?
Well, we’ll really have to wait for a UK or Thai model to be announced as this US version has its steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle.
More details in the press release below.
PRESS RELEASE
Ford is delivering a new kind of pickup – compact but mighty, built for makers and doers, stunningly fuel-efficient, and packed with clever technology and features. The all-new 2022 Ford Maverick is the truck for people who never knew they wanted a truck.
Ford Maverick comes as a standard five-passenger, four-door pickup, with a full-hybrid powertrain and a projected EPA-estimated rating of 40 mpg city fuel economy and 500 miles of range on a single tank of gas. Tested and tortured to meet Built Ford Tough standards, Maverick offers ingenious design and storage solutions while enabling customization inside and out. It all comes with a starting MSRP of $19,995.
What’s inside?
The interior design is stylish and spacious, with thoughtful features and the versatility for city driving or escaping the urban life. Surprisingly roomy, there’s excellent leg and headroom, shoulder and hip width, and a comfortable seating position for both rows.
What’s key, he said, was understanding how people actually use the stuff they bring in, rather than just expecting them to find places to stash it. Door armrests have a split design to allow a one-liter water bottle to sit upright in a bin rather than rolling around on the seats, while door pockets are huge and have lots of vertical clearance to store a tablet or notebooks. There’s a spacious storage bin under the rear seats that fits a fully inflated volleyball, laptop bags, roller blades, tools and other gear.
FITS – Ford Integrated Tether System – is a clever multitasking solution for rear seat passengers. There’s a FITS slot at the back of the front console that accommodates different accessories for endless personalization. An available accessory package includes cupholders, a storage or trash bin, cord organizer, double hook for grocery bags and purses, and under-seat storage dividers. More FITS slot creations are in development and Ford is working to publish the slot geometry so people can 3D-print DIY solutions to further fit their lifestyle. Those accessories can be stored in multiple slots under the rear seats, which could also be used for novel applications on their own.
Ford Co-Pilot360™ technology includes standard Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking and Automatic High Beam Headlamps. Available options include Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Blind Spot Information System with Cross-Traffic Alert, Lane Centering and Evasive Steering Assist. Five standard drive modes include Normal, Eco, Sport, Slippery and Tow/Haul to enhance performance and confidence over various driving conditions.
What’s out back?
Ford Maverick really goes all-out when it comes to functionality with its unique FLEXBED™, which is packed with standard features and opportunities to transform the cargo box into a complete makerspace. FLEXBED gives customers organization and storage solutions to secure cargo, while accommodating Ford accessories and creative DIY solutions. The team developed its features after watching people at home improvement and furniture stores as well as college kids moving into their dorms, observing how they struggled to load things into small crossovers and cars while working around the cargo limitations they faced.
People can create segmented storage, elevated floors, bike and kayak racks and more by sliding 2x4s or 2x6s into slots stamped into the side of the bed. There are two tie-downs, four D-rings and built-in threaded holes in the sides to bolt in new creations.
Ford Maverick customers want to live freely. They have passions and hobbies they love and would rather spend money on the mountain bike, not necessarily the bike rack to get it to the mountains. Customers can scan the FLEXBED QR code in the bed for some interesting ideas to get started.
Gaby Grajales is an electrical engineer who helped develop standard built-in 12-volt electrical power prewired to an easily removable cover on either side of the back of the bed to support DIY electrical projects.
Beyond DIY electrical, there are two available 110-volt 400-watt outlets – one in the bed and one in the cabin – that can power phones, laptops, small TVs, a cordless tool battery charger, or a small, corded tool like a jigsaw. There’s also a storage cubby built into the side of the bed on XLT and two available on Lariat trucks, perfect for keeping a ball hitch or air pump.
The 4.5-foot bed can carry 1,500 pounds of payload, the equivalent of roughly 37 bags of 40-pound mulch, and has a six-foot floor with the tailgate down. Maverick can carry long and wide stuff too, thanks to its multi-position tailgate. It opens normally, but also has a halfway-open position – just unclip the support cables and hook them onto the latch pins so the tailgate lip and wheelhouses can support up to 18 sheets of 4×8-foot three-quarter-inch plywood without needing to angle the panels. It’s easy. The tailgate features tie-down clamps that double as bottle openers, and is rated to hold 500 pounds of friends hanging out and taking a seat. The bed floor and sides are low, so almost any size adult can reach over and grab items off the floor.
What’s it look like?
It has a look all its own, but Maverick sports iconic Ford pickup truck style with a door design that pays homage to the company’s signature drop-down side windows and a front end that stretches edge to edge, connecting the standard LED headlamps and grille for a more prominent, planted appearance.
Form follows function here, too. Maverick is upright and squared off for space efficiency, but it looks youthful and athletic – clean, not overdesigned. There’s no gap between cab and tailgate, and the bed rail caps extend from the bed and go vertical, ending at the top of the back window. It’s designed this way to offer greater dent and ding protection, knowing people will load and unload the bed from the sides more frequently.
Ford Maverick is offered at three trim levels – XL, XLT and Lariat. An FX4 package available for all-wheel-drive XLT and Lariat trucks adds more off-road capability with rugged all-terrain tires and suspension tuning, additional underbody protection, and off-road-focused drive modes like Mud/Rut and Sand, as well as the addition of Hill Descent Control™.
Available for the first model year only is the Maverick First Edition package. It is built off the Lariat trim level and includes unique graphics on the hood and lower doors, a high-gloss black-painted roof, soft tonneau cover, body-color door handles, high-gloss black skull caps, and gloss black-painted and machined 18-inch wheels for hybrid or unique 17-inch aluminum wheels for the gas model. It comes in Carbonized Gray, Area 51 and Rapid Red, unique to First Edition.
The 2022 Ford Maverick goes on sale Fall 2021.
