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DETROIT – Ford Motor’s new Maverick truck would be the first pickup in America with a typical gas-electric hybrid engine when it goes on sale this fall beginning at about $20,000.
The corporate unveiled the compact pickup Tuesday because the smallest automobile in its extremely worthwhile truck lineup, slotting beneath the full-size Ford F-150 and midsize Ranger pickups. The Maverick is about three ft shorter in size and 7 inches decrease than an F-150, Ford stated.
Compact pickups are an untapped and unproven market within the U.S. Ford’s growth into the phase comes as gross sales of vans have skyrocketed in recent times, with buy consideration surpassing that of vehicles final yr, in accordance with Cox Automotive.
2022 Ford Maverick hybrid (left) and a pair of.0-liter EcoBoost Lariat 1
Ford
Increasing Ford’s truck enterprise has been a objective beneath CEO Jim Farley, who’s restructuring the automaker’s operations to deal with its strengths comparable to pickups.
The title Maverick is just not new to Ford. It produced a two-door sedan with that title from 1969 to 1979. The corporate additionally used the title Maverick in Australia, China and Europe for a number of automobiles.
New clients
Ford expects the Maverick to draw new consumers to the model in addition to the extraordinarily loyal pickup truck phase, in accordance with officers.
“Maverick challenges the established order and the stereotypes of what a pickup truck may be,” Todd Eckert, Ford truck group advertising supervisor, stated in a press release. “We imagine will probably be compelling to lots of people who by no means earlier than thought of a truck.”
A number of Ford officers throughout a media briefing known as the Maverick a “truck for individuals who by no means knew they wished a truck.”
The automobile is a typical five-passenger, four-door pickup not like different Ford vans such because the F-150 that begin with two doorways and solely seat two or three folks.
Ford stated the Maverick will come commonplace with a hybrid gas-electric powertrain that’s anticipated to have 500 miles of vary on a single tank of gasoline. The hybrid automobile is anticipated to attain an EPA-estimated 40 mpg gas economic system in metropolis driving, in accordance with Ford. The corporate declined to launch complete and freeway gas economic system estimates.
Chris Mazur, chief engineer of the pickup, stated the 40 mpg metropolis was Ford’s “rallying cry” for the automobile. He stated gas economic system is a serious consideration for smaller pickups.
“We’re bringing it to win,” he informed CNBC. “It is a white area automobile going into a brand new phase.”
Cox Automotive reviews cargo area is the highest issue – by a large margin – for customers who would contemplate a compact truck over a extra conventional SUV, adopted by gas effectivity and worth.
Analysts have stated the Maverick would should be priced nicely beneath the Ford Ranger and different midsize pickups to be aggressive within the U.S. market. A two-door model of the Ranger begins at about $25,000. A four-door mannequin begins at about $27,000, in accordance with Ford’s web site.
The Maverick will begin at $19,995, in accordance with Ford.
A mixture of automotive and truck
In contrast to Ford’s different pickups, the Maverick can be assembled by means of a course of the auto business calls “unibody” building. The method, which is how vehicles are produced, is the place the body/physique of the automobile are one. That compares to “body-on-frame” building for many pickups and a few vans and SUVs, which mixes the physique and body of the automobiles towards the tip of manufacturing.
Essentially the most notable unibody pickup at present in the marketplace is the midsize Honda Ridgeline. Such building sometimes permits for a smoother trip, nevertheless much less functionality than a standard truck.
The smaller measurement of the Maverick will permit for simpler entry to the automobile’s mattress and cabin in contrast with bigger pickup vans, Ford stated.
The automobile’s commonplace 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid powertrain is rated at 191 horsepower and 155 pound ft of torque. A 2.0-liter gasoline engine rated at 250 horsepower and 277 pound ft of torque additionally can be out there.
The pickup is being produced at Ford’s Hermosillo plant in Mexico alongside its new Ford Bronco Sport SUV. The automobiles share the identical base, often known as a platform.
Unproven market
Compact automobiles with pickup beds have come and gone a number of occasions all through the American auto business.
Most notably, the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino beginning within the Fifties and Sixties, and, extra lately, the Subaru Baja from the 2000s. Hyundai is coming into the small U.S. pickup market with the Santa Cruz, a small SUV-like automobile that is scheduled to go on sale this summer time.
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz
Hyundai
Ford expects to distinguish the Maverick from earlier automobiles in addition to the Santa Cruz by making it a extra conventional truck. It is a plan just like its lately unveiled electrical F-150 pickup truck.
“It is unmistakably a Ford truck,” stated Heath Hilliard, Maverick artistic exterior designer.
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