New Ford Maverick mini truck

[Rick Potter]

I have pretty much decided to get the new Maverick mini truck, but I will wait until they bring out a plug in hybrid version. One thing that has bothered me is that it is assembled in Mexico, but if that is the only place making one, so be it. Yes I am aware of the Hyundai, but the bed is less usable for me.

What really finalized it was today at Costco. They had two new cars on display at the entrance. The first was a Mercedes sedan, a 300 something for well over 50K. I looked at the sticker and found it was made with a combination of Polish and German parts, and assembled in South Africa.

Next to it was a Volvo Polestar (the electric one) for well over 60K. Now I know Volvo was bought out by a Chinese Company a few years ago, but it still surprised me that it was comprised of mostly Chinese parts and assembled in Belgium. No mention of anything Swedish was on the sticker, which was behind highly tinted glass, and hard to see.

Suddenly Mexico is sounding more acceptable to me.

[Curt Harms]

As far as I'm concerned far better Mexico than the Far East. It doesn't look like there's a 4 wheel drive version though and 4 1/2 foot bed? I'd still have to rent a real pickup to haul lumber, or have a trailer but no place to keep one.

[Brian Elfert]

You're going to find it pretty difficult to find a new vehicle these days that doesn't have Chinese parts in it.

There is an all wheel drive version of the Maverick, but you have to get the optional Ecoboost engine instead of the hybrid.

[Stan Calow]

I was happy to hear that I would have two choices in new mini-pickups soon. I dislike the ongoing trend for pickups to get bigger and bigger each year. Even the new Ford Ranger is too big to fit comfortably in my garage. I fondly remember the days of the old Datsun mini-truck and the Chevy LUV, which were right-sized for homeowners, not working trucks.

I was car-shopping a few years ago, and every Ford I looked at (including the Mustang and Escape) was either made in Mexico or had significant Chinese parts (motor and/or transmission). Assembling cars & trucks in Mexico is how the "US" automakers get to keep referring to their vehicles as "Made in North America". They count on most Americans to not figure out Mexico is in North America. Researching at the time, I found out the vehicles with the mot US parts and assembly, were, in order: Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra, and Honda Ridgeline.

Lets hope the chip shortage gets resolved.

[Bill Dufour]

My 2000 Ford ranger much of it was made in Mexico The seats, the dash wiring. The steel wheels came from Brazil. The automatic transmission has been from a French company built in France since the 90's.
The "new"ranger, actually a ten year old model, is 80-90% the size of a f150.
Bill D

[Lee DeRaud]

Hopefully the Maverick truck is a (much) better truck than the Maverick car was a car.
Same design team as the Pinto, as I recall...that's a bug, not a feature.

[Tom M King]

I replaced a front hub on my truck. I got the cheapest, Chinese one first. It lasted a couple of weeks before it started making noise. I returned that one, and upgraded to the Mexican one. No trouble with that one for a couple of years, so far.

[Jim Becker]

Hopefully the Maverick truck is a (much) better truck than the Maverick car was a car.
Same design team as the Pinto, as I recall...that's a bug, not a feature.

LOL....I'm laughing because that was my exact reaction when they originally announced the news about this new vehicle. Now my first spouse's grandfather owned a Maverick...with a V8 in it it seems. Nasty vehicle...


That said, this smaller truck could "scratch an itch" in the marketplace as it's been sometime since there were decent offers for small, functional pickup trucks and that was back in the days when an "import" was actually an import. Some of those older ones are still used on the large farms around here, sans license/registration as they are not on the roads at all.

[Frank Pratt]

I guess Ford is banking that most of the people that remember the original Maverick are dead.

[Tom M King]

Was it the Maverick that they put a 427 in? A guy that lives on the lake near us has a Mercury version (edited to add: Comet )of that Maverick that he takes to shows. Seeing a lot of old cars on the road makes me smile. This one just

[Aaron Rosenthal]

My understanding is that Ford has changed it's focus: they no longer make cars to serve markets and are prepared to loose money. Instead, the "new" CEO convince the Ford family to forego breadth of markets, and instead look at profits.
The Maverick was not a good car, but aside from the name would you think its a return to the same vehicle? "Everything old is new again".
I'd also like to take a real close look at the Maverick if for no reason even my 2004 Mazda B3000 is larger than I need.

[Brian Elfert]

My understanding is that Ford has changed it's focus: they no longer make cars to serve markets and are prepared to loose money. Instead, the "new" CEO convince the Ford family to forego breadth of markets, and instead look at profits.
The Maverick was not a good car, but aside from the name would you think its a return to the same vehicle? "Everything old is new again".
I'd also like to take a real close look at the Maverick if for no reason even my 2004 Mazda B3000 is larger than I need.

Companies have a fiduciary duty to shareholders to make money for them. Ford can't really just lose money making cars as a community service. Some of the cars were killed off to free up assembly plant space for more profitable SUVs and trucks. Sedans were 22.1% of all vehicle sales in 2019.

The Ford family owns less than 2% of Ford shares these days.

[Jim Becker]

Ford made the decision to focus on what sells the best and in great quantities...pick-em-up trucks and SUVs/Crossovers are what the majority of the market wants these days. Other manufacturers have also scaled back on sedans/coupes, too, although not totally like Ford. The automobile business is market driven. Dodge is down to one sedan, one coupe, and an SUV that may be going in a different direction in next gen. Chrysler has one sedan and a mini-van. Chevy has one sedan, a bunch of SUVs/CUVs and trucks. Buick is pretty much SUVs and a wagon. GM...SUVs/Trucks. Caddy...the "sedan" is nearly dead in favor of multiple SUVs/CUVs and an SUV EV. Lincoln...SUVs/CUVs. Toyta/Nissan/Hyundai/Kia/Honda, etc., big focus on SUVs/CUVs/Trucks, although some sedans still available. Subaru...Legacy sedan is low volume and anything else other than the BRZ which is a joint project with Toyota is SUV/CUV/Wagon.

Even in the growing EV world, a big percentage of what's being produced currently or intended to be produced is in the SUV/CUV and pickup truck space. Yes, Tesla has a couple of sedans, but Model Y and Model X are both in the SUV/CUV space.

[Lee DeRaud]

Chevy has one sedan, a bunch of SUVs/CUVs and trucks.

(cough)(cough)Corvette(cough)(cough)
Hopefully they won't do to that name what Ford did to "Mustang".

And then there's Porsche: the vast majority of their sales is SUV(-adjacent), but the company's image is still firmly planted in the 911 and its siblings.

(Re "SUV-adjacent": I rode in a Cayenne Turbo recently. You forget very very quickly that it's supposed to be an "SUV". )

[Bill Dufour]

Anyone remember the Subrau Brat pickup truck? For some reason it had a rear facing seat in the pickup bed out in the rain. I think there were limits on trucks imported from Japan.