Ford’s new Maverick pick-up – handy and hybridised

For the first time in the US, Ford is launching a small pick-up truck designed for the adventurous, not-so-typical truck crowd.

“There was a central question in this case: How do we leverage Ford’s strength and trust to attract new customers?” Ford chief designer Ehab Kaoud tells Car Design News. “The phrase we kept coming back to was simple, but not basic,” he says. The result was a unibody compact vehicle with flexible storage inside and out, priced at just US$19,995 for the entry-level model.

“There’s nothing we could really benchmark against in the US,” Kaoud continues. “We had the Courier, and globally there’s a Fiat and a couple of other vehicles from VW, but what makes the Maverick very exciting is that it’s a hybrid that will do 40mpg and 500 miles on a single tank.”

The four-door, five-passenger Maverick measures 200 inches long, which is about 11 inches shorter than the midsized Ford Ranger (which competes with the likes of the Chevrolet Colorado and Honda Ridgeline). Kaoud walks us through the truck’s C-clamp headlights that interlock with the front grille, prominent hood, and wheels pushed out to the corners with sculpted lips. “Everything has this linearity to it that accentuates the idea of what we call BFT, or Built Ford Tough,” he explains. “It has this powerful stance, but in a little bit more dynamic way than F-150. It’s not a brother or sister – but more of a cousin.”

For the interior, Ford’s designers thought not only about the things people might bring with them but also how they will be used inside the vehicle. “We have data on the main products that people bring into their vehicles, from the Big Gulp (a giant American cup of soda) to their smartphones,” Kaoud says. “We used 3D printing tools to create physical replicas of all these items, and then our design team used them to draw up the interior, making sure each of the objects were considered.” To create more space, speakers were relocated from the rear doors to the C-pillars, which allowed for larger map pockets. There’s also an under-seat storage area that can be divided in different ways. And for those who don’t want their bicycles left out in an open truck bed, one will fit neatly behind the front seats.

Kaoud also points out the standard 8-inch screen and the neon-coloured “Scout Orange” accents, which are placed throughout the cabin to denote functional points such as the air vents, phone cradle, and grab handles. “These things didn’t just happen, they were based on certain areas where we needed to accommodate for the customer, the idea of ‘simple not basic’ in terms of colour and finishes, the faceted texture of elements on the door and IP,” he says.

The Maverick’s 4.5-foot bed features integrated slots that can be fitted with 2x4 or 2x6 boards, along with two tie-downs, built-in threaded holes, and four D-rings so customers can build their own custom cargo solutions. “The box goes back to design thinking,” Kaoud says. “You can go and get a bike rack which is usually around 200 or 300 bucks, but with a couple of simple bits and pieces, you can do your own. So this idea of DIY is very big. Versatility and simplicity is important.”

When it goes on sale this fall, the Ford Maverick will be available with a 162bhp hybrid powertrain that pairs an electric motor with a 2.5-litre 4-cylinder engine to achieve an EPA-estimated fuel economy of up to 40mpg and a tow rating of 2,000 pounds. A 250bhp ICE variant will be powered by a 2.0-litre EcoBoost engine and will have a tow capacity of up to 4,000 pounds. A Ford representative tells us the Maverick will be sold exclusively in the US and South America.

The unveiling of the Maverick comes shortly after Ford showcased its new electric F-150.