America loves trucks. Like a lot. That’s made all the more obvious every year as Ford’s F-series continues to trounce every other automobile in sales figures. These giant hulking behemoths that modern pickups have become, however, aren’t the right vehicle for everyone, and Ford is finally bringing back a right-sized pickup for normal everyday Americans who don’t need to tow a yacht or do transport jobs for Bob’s Bulk Lead Weight Emporium. The Maverick is the perfect pickup for DIY gardeners, garage sale pros, fishing enthusiasts, outdoorsy folks, and cyclists, among many others.
On Thursday Ford teased its new compact pickup with the video linked below. While the video spends most of its time focusing on Gabrielle Union, there is a bit of truck in there. There are a few important details here that we can glean from the video, and I’d like to dive into them right now.
1. The truck fits comfortably in a normal sized garage.
2. The tailgate appears to be low enough that you don’t need some dumbass step and handhold contraption to get up into it. That means easier loading and unloading for normal sized people. It also appears to have bed sides low enough to throw a bag of mulch up and over the side, which is impossible in any full-sized pickup these days.
Oh man. Is this actually going to be a useful truck with the ability to achieve actually decent fuel mileage? The Maverick is said to be based on the same platform as the current Escape and Bronco Sport. The current Escape Hybrid achieves 44 miles per gallon in the city and 37 highway. I expect the pickup bed might have an aerodynamic disadvantage to the bean-shaped CUV, but if the Maverick Hybrid can get anywhere near that number, I’ll be extremely impressed.
Ford’s current lineup of pickups peaks in fuel economy with the F150 Powerboost Hybrid which can only achieve an average rating of 25 mpg. The 2WD non-hybrid Ranger and F150 see no better than 23 mpg and 22 mpg respectively.
We’ll have to wait until the official unveil of the new pickup next week to know the real stats for sure, but I’m strangely looking forward to this one. If there is a plug-in hybrid version, I might have to think about becoming a pickup owner.