2022 Ford Maverick Delivers 42 MPG in the City

It’s no secret that pickup trucks are getting bigger all the time. Today’s midsize trucks are nearly as large as full-size trucks were a couple of decades ago, and large trucks today are genuinely massive. While it’s unlikely that big-name pickups like the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado will shrink, automakers have taken notice of a hole in the smaller side of the truck market. Hyundai was first through the gates with the Santa Cruz compact pickup, and now the Ford Maverick is making its way to dealers’ showrooms. Today, Ford announced EPA fuel-economy estimates for its small pickup, which at 42 mpg city, 33 mpg highway, and 37 mpg combined beat the automaker’s previous estimate of 40 mpg in the city.

As Ford points out, the new Maverick Hybrid is more fuel-efficient than a 2022 Honda Civic 1.5-liter with an automatic transmission. More importantly, however, the Maverick is more frugal than its closest competitor, the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which returns up to 23 mpg combined in its most efficient format. It also shames the entire midsize truck segment, where the Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado, and GMC Canyon all achieve up to 23 mpg combined. The Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier are slightly further behind, with 21 mpg and 20 mpg combined, respectively.

The Maverick’s standard hybrid powertrain includes a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine with an electric motor rated at a combined 191 horsepower and 155 pound-feet of torque. This setup delivers a total payload capacity of 1,500 pounds and a towing capacity of up to 2,000 pounds. The upgraded powertrain option is a turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission. When equipped with the 4K Tow package, Mavericks fitted with the larger gas engine can tow up to 4,000 pounds. Ford discontinued the max towing package for hybrid models earlier this year and offered to refund buyers or upgrade them to the larger engine.

Ford hasn’t divulged its total Maverick reservation numbers but has noted strong demand for the tiny pickup. The automaker expects orders for the Maverick Hybrid to be entirely exhausted by early November, at which point it will close reservations. The order banks will reopen in summer 2022, but customers will still be able to place orders for trucks equipped with the available turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine.

Ford is the source of information for this article. It was accurate on October 21, 2021, but it may have changed since that date.