With the debut of the 2022 Ford Maverick, the automaker is applying an old name to an entirely new vehicle, one that fills the white space for compact pickups.
Thus far, the truck’s received plenty of attention and secured more than 100,000 reservations. It’s one of two new players — the other being the Hyundai Santa Cruz — in a space that’s been vacated by other makers.
At the truck’s recent launch in Nashville, Tennessee, we spoke with Scott Anderson, design manager for the truck. Here’s an edited version of our conversation with Scott.
The Detroit Bureau: Talk a little bit about the design and what you were going for compared to your other pickups.
Scott Anderson: It’s something more like a toned athlete versus a bodybuilder, so it’s a strong thing, built Ford tough, but it’s a different kind of strength.
TDB: So, you accentuate the wheel arches, for example, but it’s not a bulging wheel arch.
SA: Yeah, so it’s a very constructed wheel arch, it’s completely different.
TDB: We were talking earlier about how you balanced the look of the truck so appealing to buyers with and without Y chromosomes.
SA: Yeah, it wants to be approachable for all of our customers, right? And it’s supposed to be strong, but it’s a different kind of strength than bodybuilder strength. So, it’s still built Ford tough, still very strong. The proportions and the architecture, the surfaces, give it the strength, like the long line along the rocker. The rocker cladding gives it an extra strength right that holds the support of the wheel arches and amplify the tire placement. And obviously the architecture of the cab feels very strong.
TDB: How essential was the bed length, because it is going to be a shorter bed.
SA: You know, 4.5 feet is a sweet spot because you could put a lot of (different types of) ATVs in the back with the tailgate down. So, we actually had big foamcore mock-ups of ATVs that we put in the studio. We took the tires’ measurements and made a big mock up and checked it, to make sure it fits.
TDB: Jet skis?
SA: Yeah, so all that stuff was thought out. Then, having a flexbed tailgate that drops down and adds two-and-a-half-feet. And then you have the critical dimension; four-by-eight sheets of plywood have to go in there. That’ll give it the right amount of space. But you also can’t make it ungarageable, right? So, you have an overall length requirement that sets the length of the truck. That’s partly why you’ll see the offset license plate. Part of that was keeping the overall length intact when you put like a trailer hitch on. You don’t have to stack up more links to the bumper to get the plate on and the trailer hitch on. We have a little height load floor, which is really great. So that sort of sets up the package of the back end, we want to make sure that we can get a short overall length.
TDB: And being able to reach into the bed is an important metric, right?
SA: A super important measurement. Our customers are going to have a much easier time reaching the front of the bed and the back of the bed from outside. The bedrail height was critical.
We’re actually thinking there’s probably a lot of opportunity for even farmers in rural areas; they are using side by sides right now and the reason they use it is because the bed is lower. They can load their stuff much easier than on the big trucks. They’ll take side by sides out to repair fences and do things like that. Now you got a warm cabin and a much more roadworthy vehicle that you can buy pretty much the same price as a side by side that has more function.
TDB: Like the Polaris Ranger with the bed in the back?
SA: And those things are $25,000, $30,000; some of those are so expensive. It’s like if I were a farmer and I had to be like that kind of work and needed a little bed, I’d get this over a Ranger all day long. Some of those are road legal, but they’re not freeway legal; you can’t go on the highway. You can only go on side roads. So I think there’s a huge opportunity. This is just a new space for the truck market.
TDB: Are the bins in the bed standard?
SA: The bins are standard on XLT and Lariat; XLT you get one bin, Lariat you get two bins.
TDB: The XL is like the fleet model, right?
SA: But you know, if you look at what’s over there, you still get a cover plate, but you don’t get the bin. So, an enterprising owner could just unbolt it and put the bin in if they wanted to; the package space is still there. So really think about this as an open-source platform, and it’s not a finished statement. So now, it allows a customer to make it theirs.
TDB: Isn’t that the difference in pickup owners anyway? They’re more likely to take apart their vehicle?
SA: Yeah, they take things apart and try things.
TDB: You mentioned before it’s got a QR code, and gives you the cad.
SA: So the QR code for the flexbed, there are DIY hack videos for how to make a bike rack to your bed, how to wire up a compressor, how to wire up a bed lighting system on the DIY site; they will eventually be uploaded to that same site. You will also be able to make your own fit slot accessories, so they’ll have some guidelines on materials and scale that the the fifth slot can handle. All of that will be like on the DIY website.
TDB: How did the different type of customers you were aiming for factor into your design? It’s obviously a different customer than a Ranger or F-150 customer.
SA: So for us, a lot of it was materials. We know we can’t put in leather. We can’t put in wood chrome spears. We can’t have superficial things. It’s simple, but not basic. The price point is critical. So that constraint drove decisions we made in design, like that recycled faceted plastics are all about honesty in materials and utilizing those materials in a fresh and clever way. That gives us a unique design, and that’s our customer is about. They’re very much straightforward. They know they don’t have a ton of money to spend, but they still want something that’s interesting and has a personality that’s fun to use. That pretty much drove the entire thing.
(Ford CEO) Jim Farley came in and told us to describe and frame the program in two words; boil it down to two words to drive all your decision making. We got with the marketing team, and the design team to brainstorm, looking at imagery and came up with essential encourage. So, essential, about paring it down to the basics, making it really straightforward and the right value. And then courage; we did some courageous things, new ideas and innovations and brought it to market. This customer is a maker, a doer. They are starting to call it that startup life. They’re just starting out in life or starting the first business, or they’d like to take the bull by the horns and do their own thing. So that was pretty much everything in the program for us. That constraint of pricing and timing really drove a lot of like creative thought.
TDB: I think it’s cool that you’re exposing fasteners, because for years you have been trying to hide them.
SA: We had a massive debate with the craftsmanship team about it. They said, do you really want to do that? And I said, ‘yeah absolutely. I think in the space, these people who have loft spaces, they’re looking at exposed rafters and vents, right? If it’s done well and if its intentional, people accept it. And so, we said let’s make the fastener look good. Let’s make it an exposed fastener that’s worthy of appearance. So we got the bolts supplier and said, “hey, do you have any heads that are flat head; can you stamp Ford in it for us?” And they’re like, “yeah absolutely we do.” It was really cool.
Is Scott Anderson, like, a teenager or like young adult, who’s like, you know, like working for Ford?
Also, vast majority if not all of us who do put ATVs, motorbikes and such in the back of our pick-ups want the tailgate closed. It adds extra protection as well as piece of mind when traveling as most times there will be some highway driving to get to the destination. Plus with distracted drivers out there, it helps not to have the tailgate down. It also saves you the trouble of having to place the red flag on the rear. And from the picture of the 4X8 sheets of plywood, it looks like more than a foot is hanging off the rear of the tailgate.
The tailgate should never be considered as an integral part of the load floor – that is poor design.