Thousands of Buyers Line Up to Order 2022 Ford Maverick

The small pickup truck market was nonexistent earlier this year, but things are heating up considerably with two new entrants in 2021. The Hyundai Santa Cruz is starting to hit the streets now, and later this year, the Ford Maverick will make its appearance. As it did with other recent model launches, Ford is taking reservations for the Maverick, and the number of people lining up to get behind the wheel is surprising. In an interview with Bloomberg, the automaker said that it had collected more than 100,000 reservations for the truck.

It’s worth noting that there’s no real commitment needed from a buyer to send a reservation. Ford does not collect any money at the time of reservation, and buyers can cancel at any time. Even so, Ford said that it is confident that Maverick reservation holders will convert to actual orders at a similar rate as reservations did for the Bronco SUV.

The highest volume of Maverick reservations comes from Los Angeles, the coastal metropolis where Toyota’s Tacoma is a hot seller. San Francisco, Orlando, and Houston are other Maverick hotspots. As Bloomberg notes, we don’t know how many of the reservations are for the cheapest hybrid version of the truck, but Ford has confirmed that the hybrid front-wheel-drive model will be limited at launch as the company prioritizes the more expensive gas-powered models.

Buyers cite the truck’s size and utility as drivers for their purchase decision. The small unibody Maverick will offer a smoother ride and a more car-like interior than mid- or full-size pickups while retaining a reasonably sized truck bed and capabilities. Equipped with the more expensive turbocharged engine and towing package, the Maverick is rated to tow up to 4,000 pounds—plenty of power to pull a small boat or cargo trailer.

Ford plans to launch the Maverick this fall, but there’s enough time between now and then for anything to happen. Though the entire auto industry is struggling to come to grips with a microchip shortage and ongoing pandemic-related supply chain issues, Ford, in particular, has had trouble launching vehicles in the last two years. The Mustang Mach-E was initially slow out of the gate due to quality control issues and is currently running a six-week delay. The massively anticipated Ford Bronco SUV saw extensive delays before finally trickling out to buyers’ driveways but will now keep buyers waiting even longer due to cosmetic issues with its hardtop.

Bloomberg is the source of information for this article. It was accurate on August 23, 2021, but it may have changed since that date.