Ford’s Unibody Maverick Aims to Revitalize the Compact Pickup

Standard is a hybrid offering five seats, a clever cargo box and a $20,000 base price.

Only keen eyes will spot the differences between the Maverick Hybrid (left) and the non-hybrid Ecoboost models. (Ford)

Confirming one of the industry’s worst-kept product secrets, Ford on June 8 unveiled the 2022 Maverick, its return to the compact-pickup segment that the original Ford Ranger anchored for nearly 30 years. The new 4-door, 5-passenger, unibody Maverick brings three significant numbers – 40 mpg capability with the standard hybrid powertrain, $20,000 base price, and a cargo-friendly 30.1-in. (764-mm) load-floor height – to a product segment that is ripe for revitalization in North America. And strategically, Maverick leverages the production scale and cost benefits of Ford’s C2 global architecture that also underpins the Escape and Bronco Sport SUVs.

Despite the $20,000 base price, most Maverick hybrids will be upsold in XLT (shown) and Lariat trim. (Ford)

“With Maverick, Ford becomes the first OEM to address the North American pickup market from C-segment unibody to full-frame Class 4 capabilities,” observed Michael Robinet, executive director at industry analysts IHS Markit. He noted that basing Maverick on C2 has enabled Ford to quickly fill an emerging market gap – "a key to staying ahead of the market” that Hyundai and other competitors also will be entering. IHS Markit forecasts Ford’s C2 portfolio averaging more than 550,000 units over the next five years.

Maverick is the industry’s first pickup with standard hybrid-electric propulsion. The system combines Ford’s 2.5-L Atkinson-cycle 4-cylinder, SAE rated at 162 hp, with the two-motor, power-split continuously variable transaxle used in the Escape hybrid. Total system output in this front-wheel-drive-only configuration is 191 hp. An optional non-hybrid system, available with both FWD and all-wheel drive, pairs a 2.0-L Ecoboost 4-cylinder SAE-rated at 250-hp and 277 lb-ft (375 Nm) with the 8F35 8-speed automatic. Maverick is assembled at Ford’s Hermosillo, Mexico, complex in three trims (XL, XLT and Lariat) and goes on sale in the U.S. this summer.

“A rallying cry”

The 2022 Maverick’s car-like cockpit design is clean, contemporary, and features an 8-in. touch screen. Armrests in door panels are shaped to accommodate large bottles in door binnacles. (Ford)

Slotting in below the midsize Ranger (see pickup-comparison graphic), Maverick is designed to be easier to park and maneuver in town. It’s also significantly more fuel efficient, less expensive and simply more approachable to passenger-car owners who want a useful hauler, versus a “junior” take on the traditional full-frame pickup. Also important for non-truck buyers is Maverick’s non-intimidating (and back-saving) load-floor height that is more than 3 inches (76 mm) lower to the ground than that of the 2WD Ranger.

Product-planning research showed that a 5-passenger crew cab with a 4-foot-wide, 4.5-foot-long (1,372-mm) bed was the ideal for a compact pickup and “a key to versatility,” explained program chief engineer Chris Mazur. That, and leveraging the C2 platform, negated a mix of cab and bed configurations.

Delivering the new pickup at such an aggressive base price “was a rallying cry for us; a wildly audacious goal for our team,” Mazur asserted. He cited a long list of Maverick features including the hybrid driveline, standard driver-assist electronics, five drive modes, 8-inch (203-mm) UX touchscreen and the truck’s cleverly designed Flexbed cargo bed. “At Ford, we’ve been doing hybrids for almost 20 years. Coupled with economies of scale with our supply base, that’s how we went about achieving that [$20,000 price] goal.”

The 2022 Maverick fills the potentially lucrative and until recently, abandoned, sales segment below the midsize Ranger in Ford’s pickup portfolio. (Ford)
The 2022 Maverick offers flexible rear underseat storage. (Ford)
Ford’s new Flexbed cargo box offers a plausible, if not ideal, solution for transporting 4x8-ft. plywood sheet within a 4x6-ft. space. Red caution flag is a vital accessory! (Ford)
Ford’s e-motor engineering team achieved a 20% weight reduction for Maverick’s permanent-magnet machine by using a “best-in-class” hairpin winding topology and molded-in magnets, noted Abdul Hajiabdi. (Ford)

Specifying a steel-intensive body structure – only Maverick’s hood is aluminum – also helped moderate program cost, added Klaus Palo de Mello, the engineering manager. So did homologation synergies shared by Maverick with its C2 cousins. These, along with streamlining of Ford’s product-development organization, enabled the P758 program (Maverick) team to shorten its initial design cycle by more than 20 months.

An interesting off-the-shelf technology solution is found on the 2WD truck’s twist-beam rear axle: so-called “force vectoring” springs. According to de Mello the spring coils are “angled” rather than cylindrical-shaped. First used on the European Focus ST (and still in production), the unusual coil springs generate lateral forces under certain dynamic conditions. “It’s very helpful on a twist-beam setup because it helps increase lateral stiffness without having an effect on ride comfort,” he said, “and beneficial to Maverick’s dynamic behavior both loaded and unloaded.”

Rear suspension on AWD models is an independent multi-link/trailing arm setup. All-wheel drive XLT and Lariat Mavericks offer an available FX4 package that includes all-terrain tires, underbody skid plates, suspension tuning, specific off-road drive modes, and Ford’s Hill Descent Control.

In-house traction motor

Maverick’s 60-lb. (27-kg), 1.1-kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, also a carryover from Escape Hybrid, is located under the passenger-side cabin. In addition to being Ford’s first standard hybrid pickup, it also breaks ground for using the company’s first in-house designed, engineered, tested and manufactured traction motor, according to Abdul Hajiabdi, the E-drive system and applications supervisor.

“We were able to push the limits on this hardware, taking cost and material out while retaining capability,” explained Hajiabdi, a 21-year Ford engineering veteran. “We don’t have to rely on our suppliers’ know-how” for the 94-kW, 173-lb.ft. (235-Nm) permanent-magnet induction machine. He noted that Ford’s electric motor engineering team works directly with manufacturing counterparts at the Van Dyke Transmission plant in suburban Detroit – the new hub of the company’s e-motor and electrified-transaxle production. “This [the Maverick motor development] is paving the way for all applicable platforms going forward,” he said.

The motor team achieved a 20% weight reduction by using a (flat-wire) hairpin winding topology, which Hajiabdi called best-in-class. “The design allows us to push more current while limiting NVH,” he said, and explained the design difference. “Many OEMs and suppliers glue the magnet inside the pocket in the core [of the rotor], but Ford’s technology actually molds the magnets into the core. This allows us to push the electric machine to higher speeds, which translates into higher vehicle speeds,” he said.

Torque output of up to 2,300 Nm (at the wheels) helps deliver Maverick’s target performance and 1,500-lb. (680-kg) payload as well as meeting Ford’s max trailer-towing bogies – up to 2,000 lb. (907 kg). With the non-hybrid Ecoboost powertrain and equipped with the optional 4K Tow Package, Maverick is capable of pulling up to 4,000 lb. (1,814 kg), according to Manny Barberena, hybrid powertrain supervisor.

Flexbed fun

Maverick’s bed provides 33 cu. ft. of cargo volume with a high degree of flexibility. While it’s clearly not sized to haul 4x8-ft. plywood sheets with the tailgate up, the box is unique. It’s a clever Ford design called “Flexbed” in which the bed inners are shaped to accept sections of 2x4- and 2x6-in. lumber vertically and horizontally—the type of modifications that pickup owners typically make themselves to create custom shelves, partitions and racks to carry their stuff. The inner-box design is supplemented with an array of D-rings, tie-down cleats and threaded holes for bolt-down items.

“The whole bed is a DIY fan’s paradise,” said Keith Daugherty, an engineering specialist involved in the Maverick box design. “You can buy the bolt-in Ford cargo management system and we’re happy to sell it to you, but if you’re a bit more creative, you can also just go to the hardware store and get some C-channel and bolt it to the bed to make your own solutions.” There is even a Ford Flexbed QR code in the bed that owners can scan to get cargo-carrying ideas. The truck also is hardwired with two available 110-volt/400-watt outlets – one each in the bed and cabin – for powering all the electronic and electrical devices and power tools that dominate our lives.

In the cabin

Bringing the 2022 Maverick to market at Ford’s $20,000 base price point was “a wildly audacious goal” for chief engineer Chris Mazur’s development team. (Ford)
Ford’s new Flexbed cargo box is aimed at DIY pickup owners. (Ford)

Maverick’s overall interior design appears to be more influenced by the passenger-car rather than truck side of Ford’s interior studio. But the vehicle’s functional-flexibility theme is evident throughout. The door armrests are a split design to enable 1-liter water bottles to stand vertically in a molded door bin. The rear seats hinge to reveal a decently roomy and deep storage bin that can fit various gear (including fully inflated volleyballs, claims Ford).

For rear-seat passengers in need of multitasking there also is FITS – the Ford Integrated Tether System. It uses a slot at the back of the front console into which various accessory packages can be attached to hold groceries, extra cupholders, hooks and storage dividers. Engineers said a slew of FITS gadgets are in the works. Ford even aims to publish the FITS slot geometry so people can 3D-print their own custom organizing solutions.

Finally, the nameplate. This is Ford’s fifth use of the Maverick badge, first used on the compact car in the 1970s, then on various SUVs through 2005.