The new Ford Maverick is apparently generating lots of early interest, with reservations for the compact pickup topping 100,000. Demand is coming from California and other markets that typically favor imports.
The reservations are nonbinding and don’t require a deposit, but Ford is confident they’ll convert into orders as they did with a similar system set up to build interest for the electric Mustang Mach-E and revived Bronco SUV. The Maverick officially goes on sale this fall, but given on-going supply shortages throughout the automotive industry and the issues Ford has faced with the Bronco in particular, a delay of some sort is certainly possible.
That said, this significant demand does seem to answer the question of whether consumers would be interested at all in a compact pickup with car-like crossover construction. It was a question we pondered in Autoblog’s first drive review of the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which is a different take on the same basic concept.
“(The demand) really has exceeded our expectations,” Todd Eckert, Ford’s truck marketing manager, said in an interview. “This is the initial step with reservations. But we think it bodes extremely well.”
So far, Ford says the most reservations are coming from Los Angeles, where the Toyota Tacoma midsize pickup dominates the market. San Francisco ranks third on the Maverick reservation list, behind Orlando, Florida, and just ahead of Houston.
It is unclear how many of those reservations are for the hybrid variant, which is the cheapest way to buy a Maverick, but also one that may have limited appeal as it’s only available with front-wheel drive. It will also be more scarce at launch than the turbocharged model, Ford has confirmed.
Michael Meadors, 30, of Costa Mesa, California, has already converted his reservation into an order for a black Maverick with a sticker price of $22,030, after he added some safety-oriented technology upgrades. With a nearly 50-mile round-trip commute to his human-resources job in L.A., Meadors said he was attracted by the truck’s fuel economy and modest size.
“It’s not that much bigger than the Ford Fusion I’m driving,” Meadors said. “So it should be pretty easy to buzz around in heavy traffic in Southern California and find parking.”
This is Meadors’ first truck and first new vehicle. Like the growing wave of pickup buyers, he doesn’t need a truck for work, but sees benefits in having a bed to haul things.
“You don’t have to work in construction in order to reap the benefits,” he said. “You could be picking up plants and potting soil, or some large items from Costco or even sandy beach chairs that you don’t want to put inside the cabin.”
