Arguably the boldest Ford Motor Company product in a long time, the Maverick is expected to attract new customers to the Dearborn-based automaker for several reasons. One of them is the price, rumored at $20k excluding destination for the base powerplant and FWD.
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Spied time and again, the Maverick is going to enter production at the Hermosillo plant in July 2021 as a 2022 model, according to Automotive News. The cited publication is pretty much on point with previous reports, which means that we don’t need to be skeptical about the alleged timeframe.It’s also worth noting that initial production kicked off last month, according to a sales report from the Blue Oval. In all likelihood, the Ford Motor Company is putting the finishing touches to the assembly line in Hermosillo, Mexico, where the Bronco Sport crossover is produced as well.Anticipated to sell 100,000 units in the first year on the market, the Maverick features the C2 vehicle architecture of the Bronco Sport, Escape, and Focus. Twin-clutch AWD supplied by GKN is pretty much a given based on the latest set of spy pics, there’s hearsay about a six-speed manual instead of an eight-speed automatic as the base transmission, and some people suggest a hybrid powertrain in the same vein as the Escape Hybrid.Clearly more attractive than a Transit Connect and Escape, the all-new Maverick will disappoint pickup truck enthusiasts with poor towing and payload capacities. How poor, you ask? Let’s say that you shouldn’t expect the Maverick to match the 1,550-pound (703-kilogram) payload of the Transit Connect or the 3,500-pound (1,588-kilogram) maximum towing capacity of the compact-sized Escape with the Class II towing package.To be offered exclusively with a four-door cabin, the Maverick serves as the indirect successor to the Courier. Initially based on the Mazda B-Series pickup and later on the Fiesta subcompact hatchback, the Courier had a payload capacity of 1,543 lbs (700 kilograms) when it was phased out in 2013.