The 2025 Ford Maverick stays the only real compact pickup truck on sale in North America—and it’s been a smash success because it launched, with Ford including a 3rd shift at its plant to satisfy the demand. That implies not each American pickup purchaser wants one thing the dimensions of Ford’s F-Series, which stays the best-selling car line within the US after 4 many years.
Specifically, the Maverick made headlines in 2022 by providing a hybrid model that returned a 37 mpg mixed EPA score—towards 26 mpg for its non-hybrid counterpart. Now, in its fourth mannequin yr, Ford has added the characteristic most requested by Maverick Hybrid consumers: all-wheel drive. And it’s rated on the identical 37 mpg, no much less.
Nonetheless, a storm cloud hovers over the brand new characteristic and the brand new mannequin yr: All Mavericks are made in Mexico, which means they could be topic to an import tariff—although particulars of how or whether or not that could be utilized stay in flux on the time of writing.
The Maverick retains the intelligent design options that received acclaim when it launched. Slots within the FlexBed settle for many sizes and kinds of lumber, whereas a half-open place for the tailgate lets DIYers carry flat boards. House owners who fancy themselves “makers” can wire their very own LED mattress lights—Ford inbuilt a plug connector only for them.
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Nonetheless, it’s the AWD Hybrid that’s the large information this yr. And it turned out to require extra work than merely swapping in a second driveshaft and a rear axle. Ford needed to design a completely new era of its two-motor hybrid transaxle to make it work. For 2025, the earlier third-generation system (often known as HF45) has been changed by a much more highly effective fourth-gen system (HF55). WIRED received the main points throughout nearly an hour with Abby Grajek, the Maverick’s car integration engineer—which in non-Detroit phrases means she’s answerable for making certain each efficiency goal and person want specified for the car is translated onto the meeting line and, hopefully, delivered correctly.
Haul A lot Extra Than Final Hybrid
The Maverick’s Ford C2 platform is basically oriented towards front-wheel-drive powertrains, as discovered within the Ford Escape (North America) and Kuga (in Europe), the soon-to-be-discontinued Europe-only Focus, and the Lincoln Corsair amongst others. When AWD was wanted for the truck, Ford caught with a standard mechanical system that takes the mixed energy output of the engine and hybrid system and splits it between two drive items: one for the entrance wheels, one for the rear. This stands in distinction to Toyota and different hybrid makers, who use a small e-motor on the rear axle so as to add incremental energy on demand.
The AWD Maverick Hybrid had to supply the identical towing capability as its turbo 2.0-liter gasoline counterpart, which means a tow score of as much as 4,000 kilos if the “4K towing possibility” is specified. In sensible phrases, that meant that when towing, the entire output of the engine and hybrid system needed to be excessive sufficient to energy a 3,850-pound car, as much as 4 occupants and cargo, plus a 4,000-pound trailer—successfully hauling a second car, which means double the burden the earlier hybrid system needed to tow. The brand new transaxle’s inside cooling needed to be strong sufficient to tow that mixed weight up a steep grade for a lot of miles with out the electrical motors overheating.
