Ford Maverick Compact Pickup About to Enter Danger Zone—Its Tailgate Has Leaked Leaked photo of a real tailgate with the name "Maverick" on it buzzes our tower. Alex Nishimoto
Jul 20, 2020 motortrend.com
Back in May, a legit-looking rendering of an apparently small pickup truck tailgate with the name "Maverick" stamped on it began circulating around the web. Even though the CAD (computer-aided design) rendering looked real enough, we weren't ready to go all-in on the theory that Ford's upcoming compact truck would be called Ford Maverick (other names, such as Courier, seemed just as likely). Now, we're a bit more convinced, as that exact CAD design appears to have made it to the pre-production prototype stage.
In a photo leaked to Motor1 by an anonymous source, you can clearly see that same tailgate design we saw a couple of month back, only now it's stamped into an honest-to-goodness metal tailgate skin. The font matches what we've seen on other Ford trucks, such as the Ranger and recently revealed Ford Bronco SUV, and the overall tailgate's size relative to the indentation for the Blue Oval emblem suggests this piece is pretty small.
It will be interesting to see if the small, FWD, unibody truck segment is the next segment to take off (Hyundai has a similar vehicle in development). I remember thinking how odd it was that Buick was releasing such a small crossover (the Encore) in 2012, and look at the segment now. I can see the small, FWD, unibody truck segment growing just as quickly.
Anyone wonder if Ford operatives are behind the “leak” of the tailgate photograph? Vehicle manufacturers are experts at generating interest and media coverage (such as Ford products on a GM site).
To have decent sales depth in today's market, this compact pickup needs to have a dual cab version
and at least 120" wheelbase like the dual cab Transit Connect. I don't see any place for a single cab
compact pickup unless Ford wants to go back to the pre-2011 days when single cab Ranger was
bought as cheap transport.
Being based on Transit Connect engineering modules, the width of the Maverick pickup should be
around 72" which means it's shoulder and hip Room could be close to today's Ranger. That makes
me thinks that the next gen Ranger will grow a touch to improve hip and shoulder room and put it
right on the Tacoma's tail.
In a country where trucks and SUV's are favored over sedans and compact cars, automakers seem to be making wise decisions. I myself favor a compact pickup that offers far more utility and toughness than a compact car that offers neither. A sub $20K pickup that fits many lifestyles and is fuel efficient, no doubt with a hybrid getting Prius like numbers, sounds perfect.
If the Hybrid is standard, that tells me this isn't a bargain product starting around $20K. I'm a little surprised to see the HEV as the standard engine, originally it was the 1.5L I3 (which has to be a little weezy and ineffecient in this application). Ford may have backed off the $20K mission with this product since it's quite a big bigger than the Bronco Sport and Escape. I'll update if this changes.
Well I certainly hope the rumor about manual tranny is true. Other than that, not much interest on my end if it’s a 4dr with 36”-48” bed as the article discusses. But it’ll sell.
Maverick looks to be Ford finally filling the gap left by the ending of the older Ranger
but in a way that now adds a strong point of differentiation in a sea of vanilla utilities.
It also looks like offering similar interior room as Bronco Sport but with the added
cargo space in the rear tray, this could be just the ticket for. a lot of compact buyers.
That has to be it, at least the proportions are attractive.
I've also been told that the Hybrid is NOT standard, but available on all three trim levels (XL, XLT, Lariat). The 2.0L GTDI (EcoBoost) engine is listed as standard. Stay tuned.
And it's pretty obvious that GM and Ram are just not thinking about a compact pickup, not even Toyota.
It preposterously brilliant and a great antidote to the now expected compact utility or crossover that
every automaker seems to be doing.
I realise that but some have been suggesting it's on sale in 2022 but the prototype suggests next year.
It's amusing that Ford goes to great pains to hide that it's a pickup and then thinly disguise it a year out,
it's like they want to tip their hand but not too much. Gotta be part of a long range drip feed campaign.
The Maverick is a 2022 MY product so it's arriving sometime in the 2021 CY. Ford even admitted they will be debuting this new "White Space" vehicle in about 8 months.
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