The History Of Ford's Maverick Marque: From Sports Cars To Trucks

According to Car and Driver, the best-selling vehicles in the United States — by a pretty wide margin — are the F-series pickup trucks from Ford. The F-150, in particular, has become something of an American automotive icon and probably the first image most people think of when they picture a pickup truck in their minds. Despite that being the smallest model of the F-series, it is still a rather large full-size pickup, and there are some folks out there who would like to drive a pickup but don't have a particular need for something so large because they live in an urban environment or just aren't hauling things all the time.

So, in 2021, Ford debuted the Ford Maverick, their new compact pickup truck. Ford's measurements of the Maverick make it a significantly smaller vehicle than the base F-150, as it is 10 inches shorter in length, over a foot narrower, and seven inches shorter in height. It is also dramatically lower in price, with a $10 thousand gap between the two at their most base levels.

This Ford Maverick is not the original Ford Maverick, though. However, it is the first time that name has been applied to a pickup truck. The name goes back to 1969 when it referred to a two-door sedan.

Alongside the F-Series pickup trucks, Ford's other longstanding model has been the Mustang. Outside of those two, they have cycled through quite a number of cars, particularly when it comes to compact cars and sedans. Seemingly, every few years, they scrap one model in favor of a new name. This started with the Ford Falcon, which first hit the market in 1959 (model year 1960). The major American automakers weren't in the business of compact cars in those days, but according to Automotive History, they saw the rise of the cheaper, more efficient European cars taking hold of the marketplace and wanted to change that.

Sales were strong at first, but by the end of the 1960s, they were dropping, due in no small part to the more desirable Mustang, which entered the market in 1964. Ford decided to abandon the Falcon brand, and they introduced the Ford Maverick in its place. They were priced at just $1,995 in 1969, according to "Ford: 1903 to 1984" by David L. Lewis, Mike McCarville, and Lorin Sorensen. It was designed to compete with the European compact cars and the influx of Japanese vehicles making their way stateside. Thanks to the 1973 gas crisis, the efficient Maverick enjoyed some success.

However, that success was short-lived before Ford dropped the Maverick brand in favor of the newer Fairmont model in 1977. After just eight years, the Maverick was gone and expected never to be heard from again.

Although the F-150 is Ford's most famous F-series pickup truck, it was not the first. That would be the F-1, renamed the F-100 a few years later. This half-ton pickup was your standard bearer for Ford's trucks, and it wouldn't be until the mid-1970s when the larger F-150 hit the market. As you would expect from today, the F-150 became enormously popular, and Ford stopped making the F-100 in 1983.

The F-series was not Ford's sole line for pickups. In the early '70s, they also introduced the Ford Courier, which wasn't exactly a full-on Ford creation. It was a truck from Mazda that had been given a Ford makeover. It wasn't until the year Ford abandoned the F-100 that they would deliver a true-blue Ford compact pickup. That would be the Ford Ranger, which remained its signature compact pickup for three decades.

Ford discontinued the Ranger in 2011. However, its absence from the market was short-lived. In 2019, Ford brought back the Ranger name, but there was one significant difference: it was no longer a compact pickup. Now, the Ranger was a mid-size truck, far closer to the size of the F-150 than before. That meant Ford was without a compact truck in their extremely popular stable of vehicles.

In the United States, vehicles are constantly getting larger. However, there is still a market of people who aren't crazy about having gigantic vehicles on the road, particularly if they are inefficient. Ford needed a product for that market, and in 2021, they introduced the Ford Maverick.

In an interview with Ford Authority, Maverick Marketing Manager Trevor Scott said that the name was not an homage to the compact car from the 1970s but simply a name to appeal to younger customers. Considering the original Maverick wasn't exactly a beloved, runaway success or an American classic, this is likely true, but perhaps the nostalgia earns it a few points.

The market for the new compact pickup definitely showed up – Ford actually had to close orders on 2023 Mavericks in September 2022 because demand was so high that they couldn't possibly be fulfilling as many orders as they were getting. During the first half of 2023, the Maverick outsold every mid-size pickup except for the Toyota Tacoma, according to The Drive.

We are still in the early days of the new Ford Maverick, and things are going well. The question is whether this new Maverick lasts or flames out like the original.