Someone who did not want to be named sent a photo of Ford’s new Maverick pickup along with the explanation that “an acquaintance of an acquaintance who works there took the photo.” Whether it’s an extra level of security to prevent them from being fired, or perhaps Ford himself leaking the photo in a guerrilla marketing campaign, we may never know. It is in any case a Ford assembly line at the Sonora, Mexico Hermosillo plant, with a stand-alone compact bakkie still camouflaged, in the direction of its freedom and the open road. The photo too found his way to the mavericktruckclub.com forum.
This truck will be based on the same platform as the Bronco Sport, which has already proven itself to be a pretty decent machine. The Maverick gets a unique grille and style treatment up front, but without any doors, it’s hard to see what the final truck will look like. There’s clearly a bit of Bronco Sport design mixed in with a bit bigger Ranger trucks. I look neat.
It will be interesting to see how Ford can market and sell a front-wheel drive pickup. This is probably the right size for most truck owners, but it can not put down the large towing and towing numbers that are important in the truck market these days. Some of Autoblog’s spy photos It looks like Maverick pickup mules are running around with a swivel rear axle and not a diff at all behind. An FWD pickup with a low specification on the entry level might be interesting, but I think the majority would be with four-wheel drive and a hearty rear suspension for a little extra utility.
This is probably the first pickup that will appeal to me in twenty years or more. It’s much more likely to achieve halfway decent fuel consumption, it’s much more comfortable to drive than a ladder frame truck and it will be easier to climb in and easier to load things into the bed without the great height. The trucks are too big, after all.