2022 Ford Maverick: a new kind of pickup, or you have no choice
The 2022 Ford Maverick — it’s the truck for people who never knew they needed a truck. — from Ford’s commercial.
This sounds like a great value proposition: a vehicle that supposedly can be as nimble as a small hatchback, as economical as a hybrid sedan, as spacious as a minivan, having a cargo bed as large as on a proper pickup truck. Except the Maverick is none of those things.
When former CEO Alan Mulally took over, his One Ford plan helped reduce the company’s platforms from 30 to just nine. However, Ford has recently been paring down its model lineup even further, to just 5 platforms.
A subcompact Fiesta, a compact Focus, a mid-sized Fusion and a large Taurus, — all these cars are no more. Ford’s full-size minivan, the Freestar, was discontinued in 2007. The last Ranger compact pickup truck was produced in 2012, the modern vehicle with the same name is significantly larger. Ford has concentrated its efforts on crossovers, SUVs, and trucks, and if they were people, most of them would be considered either overweight or severely obese.
Ford is selling its platform and cost reduction plan under a banner of a wider selection, but in fact the choice has been reduced.
Hyundai will gladly sell you the Santa Cruz ute, but it will also be happy to offer a sporty Veloster, a hybrid Ioniq, a subcompact Accent, a compact Elantra, and a mid-sized Sonata.
Honda has been selling a front-wheel drive unibody Ridgeline for years, but you can also buy a compact Civic, a mid-sized Accord and even a fuel-cell Clarity.
Ford? Not so much.
If you want a small, reliable no-nonsense compact work truck — you cannot get one from Ford, the Maverick is the smallest pickup truck in the current lineup, it cannot be ordered with two doors or with a longer wheelbase or without a cargo bed, because its unibody construction is not conducive to structural modifications.
If you want a compact or a medium-sized car, the Maverick, along with its cousins, the Escape and the Bronco Sport, is the smallest and the closest to a traditional car in the current Ford’s selection. Its engine, mounted transversely, drives the front wheels, although all-wheel drive is an option if you choose a 2-liter turbo version. You can even have a cover for your stuff, although it looks decidedly old-school compared to automatic tailgates that are opened with a kick of a foot.
Do not expect any revolutionary features from the Maverick, although I must say that offering hybrid transmission as standard is a ballsy move. Is it the same HF-35 transmission that Ford adapted from Aisin five years ago, or is it something newer? There is preciously little information about it, except for a expected city economy of 40 MPG — not bad for a vehicle this size, but the Prius can do 55 MPG, and it has a hatch over its luggage compartment.
A hundred years ago the famous Ford’s motto was, “you can buy a car painted any color that you want, so long as it is black.” Seems that the present-day Ford could re-phrase it as “you can buy any kind of vehicle you want, so long as it is a truck.”
All of these considerations may be overshadowed by the Maverick’s starting price of around $20K, the Hyundai Santa Cruz is expected to start at around $25K. How Ford has managed to do this? Maybe reducing the model lineup has something to do with it, or maybe it is just the lower cost of producing it in Mexico, while the Santa Cruz will be produced in Alabama.
Either way, it would be fun to watch the battle between two utes. If I were in the market for a vehicle like this, I would prefer the Santa Cruz just because it does not pretend to be a real truck. And it does not look like it was made in 1995.
But what do I know, I drive a Golf GTi with a stick, which looks like it came straight from the 1980s.
