DEARBORN, Mich: Ford is delivering a new kind of pickup – compact but mighty, built for makers and doers, stunningly fuel-efficient, and packed with clever technology and features.
The all-new 2022 Ford Maverick is the truck for people who never knew they wanted a truck. Maverick comes as a standard five-passenger, four-door pickup, with a full-hybrid powertrain and a projected EPA-estimated rating of 40 mpg city fuel economy and 500 miles of range on a single tank of gas.
Tested and tortured to meet Built Ford Tough standards, Maverick offers ingenious design and storage solutions while enabling customization.
“The Maverick product proposition is like nothing else out there. It’s a great-looking truck featuring four doors with room for five adults, a standard fullhybrid engine with city fuel economy that beats a Honda Civic, plenty of towing and hauling for weekend trips or do-it-yourself projects, and it starts under $20,000,” said Todd Eckert, Ford truck group marketing manager.
“Maverick challenges the status quo and the stereotypes of what a pickup truck can be. We believe it will be compelling to a lot of people who never before considered a truck.”
What is it? The all-new Ford Maverick is a compact truck with a unibody design and the first pickup in America with a standard full-hybrid powertrain – providing great city fuel economy. Its 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder hybrid powertrain delivers 191 horsepower when combined with the electric motorƗ, and 155 lb.-ft. of torque mated to a continuously variable transmission driving the front wheels.
It features an in-house designed and manufactured electric traction motor, which is light and powerful. Along with its targeted EPA-estimated fuel economy of 40 mpg city and 500 miles of range on a single tank of gas, it offers standard payload of 1,500 pounds and the volume to carry a standard ATV, plus it has the capability to tow 2,000 pounds – enough for a pair of personal watercraft or a good-sized pop-up camper trailer.
“One thing that’s non-negotiable is that Maverick is Built Ford Tough,” said Chris Mazur, a thirdgeneration Ford employee who led development of the all-new pickup as chief engineer. “Our engineers were unrelenting, putting it through a battery of vicious on-road, off-road, environmental and simulated customer use testing – through and through.”
What’s inside? Maverick won’t make its owners run up the bill for a good user experience, offering options for both built-in and brought-in technology. Its standard 8-inch center touch screen features Apple CarPlay® and Android Auto® compatibility so customers can have the experience they’re used to with their phones. Maverick has standard FordPass™ Connect with embedded modem and WiFi for up to 10 devicesƗƗƗ, while standard FordPass™ makes it easy to find the truck, check fuel level, lock and unlock the doors, and start or turn off the vehicle – all from your phone.
The interior design is stylish and spacious, with thoughtful features and the versatility for city driving or escaping the urban life. Surprisingly roomy, there’s excellent leg and headroom, shoulder and hip width, and comfortable seating for both rows. Form following function can be seen all over the interior of the all-new Maverick – right down to how the space is designed and utilized. Creating clever storage and useful features fell to Daniel George, interior leader, who calls Maverick “the ultimate first vehicle for my kids.”
Door armrests have a split design to allow a one-liter water bottle to sit upright in a bin rather than rolling around on the seats, while door pockets are huge and have lots of vertical clearance to store a tablet or notebooks. There’s a spacious storage bin under the rear seats that fits a fully inflated volleyball, laptop bags, roller blades, tools and other gear.
FITS – Ford Integrated Tether System – is a clever multitasking solution for rear seat passengers. There’s a FITS slot at the back of the front console that accommodates different accessories. Ford Co-Pilot360™ technology includes standard Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking and Automatic High Beam Headlamps. Available options include Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Blind Spot Information System and much more.
What’s out back? The unique FLEXBED™, is packed with standard features and opportunities to transform the cargo box into a complete makerspace. FLEXBED gives customers organization and storage solutions to secure cargo, while accommodating Ford accessories and creative DIY solutions. People can create segmented storage, elevated floors, bike and kayak racks and more by sliding 2x4s or 2x6s into slots stamped into the side of the bed. There are two tiedowns, four D-rings and built-in threaded holes in the sides to bolt in new creations.
“The whole bed is a DIY fan’s paradise,” said Keith Daugherty, an engineering specialist who helped develop the truck box for Maverick. The 4.5-foot bed can carry 1,500 pounds of payload, the equivalent of roughly 37 bags of 40-pound mulch, and has a sixfoot floor with the tailgate down.
Maverick can carry long and wide stuff too, thanks to its multiposition tailgate. It opens normally, but also has a halfway-open position – just unclip the support cables and hook them onto the latch pins so the tailgate lip and wheelhouses can support up to 18 sheets of 4×8-foot three-quarterinch plywood without needing to angle the panels. It’s easy.
The tailgate features tie-down clamps that double as bottle openers, and is rated to hold 500 pounds of friends hanging out and taking a seat. The bed floor and sides are low, so any adult can reach over and grab items off the floor. It has a look all its own, but Maverick sports iconic Ford pickup truck style with a door design that pays homage to the company’s signature drop-down side windows and a front end that stretches edge to edge, connecting the standard LED headlamps and grille for a more prominent, planted appearance. Maverick is offered at three trim levels – XL, XLT and Lariat. The 2022 Ford Maverick goes on sale this fall.