2022 Ford Maverick Could Be a True Compact Truck

• The Ford Maverick will be a new compact pickup truck arriving for the 2022 model year.

• It will have a unibody construction and share components with the Bronco Sport crossover.

• Look for the Maverick to debut in the second half of 2021.

Pickup trucks have been getting bigger, heavier, better equipped, more capable, and more expensive for years, but Ford may soon disrupt the trend. The long-rumored compact Ford truck to slot in below the mid-size Ranger is getting closer to reality, and the signs are pointing to it arriving sometime in 2021 wearing a Maverick badge. Here we've illustrated what the 2022 Ford Maverick could look like based on various spy photos and leaked images.

Rather than a body-on-frame construction, this new model will share its unibody, transverse-engine architecture with crossover models such as the Bronco Sport and Escape. Recent Maverick prototypes have been spotted with four doors, suggesting that it will be a crew-cab pickup looking somewhat like a Bronco Sport with a bed, though with a different front-end design. In other words, the relationship between the two will be akin to the Honda Ridgeline pickup and closely related Pilot SUV.

Because the Bronco Sport is significantly smaller than the Pilot, it stands to reason that the Maverick will have a smaller footprint than the Ridgeline and other mid-size trucks, including the Ranger. It will also reportedly be cheaper than the Ranger, which starts just above $26,000, as Ford told dealerships early in 2019 that its new compact pickup would have a sub-$20,000 sticker price. We're now dubious of that. Unless the base-model Maverick is significantly decontented compared with its crossover sibling, we struggle to see how it could cost so much less than the least expensive Bronco Sport, which stickers for $28,155.