Ford’s latest pickup, the Maverick, is off to a great start if reservations for the truck are any indicator. Ford opened reservations for the Maverick shortly after its debut and 100,000 drivers have already reserved their own pickup, according to a Bloomberg report.
Reservations don’t always translate to actual sales, but Ford is convinced that the numbers bode well for the Maverick, since the carmaker’s taken this approach with other recent models, like the Mach-E and Bronco. The reservations don’t require any money and they aren’t even binding, per Bloomberg, but I guess you can look at this way: even if 9 out of 10 drivers say Sike! Ford still sells 10,000 Mavericks, and they’re not even out yet.
A cheap, small truck has been missing from the market for a long time. The Maverick is a unibody design, sure, and it’s not that small. So, it’s not as faithful to the compact “trucky” formula, but the size and lack of body-on-frame construction isn’t a problem for the 100,000 drivers that reserved one.
Bloomberg notes that reservations come mostly from Los Angeles, San Franciso, Orlando and Houston. Bloomberg also calls it a starter model, but there’s nothing “starter” about a roughly 3,600 pound four-door, five-passenger machine that depending on trim, will get you around 40 miles per gallon. The price is the only thing that’s “starter” about the truck, and that’s great! The Maverick starts at $19,995.
The Maverick is likely going to have most of what its prospective drivers are looking for, without erring on the side of excess. In that sense, the Maverick is less of a radical design, per its name, and more of a sensible one. Or, to put it another way, Maverick is a return to straight up reasonable trucks.