I don’t know if y’all know this, but the Ford Maverick is good. And while the price isn’t so low anymore that you might be inclined to accidentally order one, it’s still a smoking good deal. Ford’s finally starting to build enough so that the brand can actually figure out how high the demand for these trucks really is, which is good news for just about everyone.
While we’re talking about good news, we’ll get into a little explainer about how the addition of the Genesis brand has lifted loyalty for the Hyundai-Kia. On the bad news front, we’ve got more intel on the potential playbook the UAW might use to strike. On the “duh” news front, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz doesn’t think Europe is ready to go all EV by 2030.
Let’s do this thing.
Ford Has The Two Most Popular Hybrid Trucks In America
I’m sympathetic to the viewpoint that hybrids are just a half-measure that merely delays, not eases, the transition to electrification. This is the wrong view, but I’m sympathetic to it. Short of doubling our investment in EVs or suddenly letting in Chinese automakers, it’s hard to see how we’re going to transition everyone into an EV tomorrow. Suppliers aren’t ready. Consumers aren’t ready. Our infrastructure is not ready.
All of those problems are solvable and it’s in the best interest of the planet, which most of us live on, to solve them. There’s a good report out today about how hard it is to even get your EV fixed if you did buy one. Hybrids represent a reasonable gateway drug to electrification and, while I think Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) are the ideal choice, regular old hybrids are at least an improvement. You know what’s also an improvement? Making smaller vehicles.
The enormous success of the Ford Maverick is proof that, priced well and packaged smartly, smaller hybrid pickup trucks are desirable to a decent-sized segment of the population. Ford released its August sales data, and its 2% year-over-year increase is pretty paltry compared to the competition. A big chunk of this is due to a stop-sale for the Ford Explorer over a camera issue, which probably cost the company 10-12k units in sales last month. The F-150 Lightning was also down significantly, but Ford points to a production issue as the main cause.
What did well? The Mach-E is finally back in full production, so sales were up 61% year-over-year, making it the second best-selling EV last month behind the Tesla Model Y according to Ford. The Bronco Sport, unsurprisingly, is making the Escape essentially obsolete. Hybrid vehicles were up 31.9%, which for Ford includes the popular F-150 Hybrid and Maverick Hybrid, which the company says are the two most popular hybrid trucks in the United States (take that Toyota Tundra Hybrid I almost forgot existed!).
The Maverick overall (the company doesn’t break down hybrid sales by model) was up 161.4% as the company adds shifts and gears up for sales. As reported by Maverick Truck Club, the factory in Mexico where these vehicles are built was down for two weeks in August, but the company still managed to produce more trucks that month than it did for much of the last year.
As a reminder, the Ford Maverick XL Hybrid now starts at $27,150 delivered, and for that you get a totally capable FWD vehicle that gets 42 MPG city and 33 MPG highway (37 MPG combined). It’s not as good a deal as when it started, but no other gas-powered trucks get anywhere close to that.
I’m a big fan of the Hyundai Santa Cruz as well, and I’d love to see a PHEV version of that, or a small hybrid truck from GM or Stellantis. Get to it, brands! We’ll see how the Toyota Tacoma Hybrid does, but my guess is it’ll do well.
The Genesis Brand Is Great For Kia-Hyundai Loyalty
This seems obvious, but there was a time when automakers didn’t make cars for everyone but focused, instead, on niches. You can debate who ultimately changed that, but I take the accepted line that legendary auto exec Alfred P. Sloan conceptualized General Motors as a company you could grow with as a consumer, stepping up from a cheap Chevy to the big Caddy when you entered upper management.
The combined Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Kia and Genesis as well as Hyundai, has rather quickly done the same in the United States. If you remember, the Genesis luxury brand started out as a not-so-luxurious coupe in 2007 and morphed into a standalone nameplate in 2016 with the Genesis-branded G90 sedan. Now you can begin your life as a Kia Soul owner and work your way up to buying the nearly $100k G90 E-Supercharger.
It’s one of the reasons why the Hyundai Motor Group now experiences a relatively high level of loyalty, even without a big pickup truck. Market intelligence firm S&P Global has the details in its latest blog:
In 2015, though the Hyundai and Kia brands’ combined U.S. registrations were strong at 1.39 million, its customer loyalty was a middling 55.2 percent. The Genesis brand had just launched, with no SUVs in the lineup. Fast forward to calendar 2022 and not only had Hyundai-Kia U.S. sales increased to 1.45 million – despite pandemic-related shortages affecting all automakers – you can tack on another 56,140 sales for Genesis. This combination of brands has resulted in loyalty skyrocketing to 62.3 percent in calendar 2022, while industry average loyalty has fallen during the recent pandemic period.
[…]
“By offering Hyundai, Kia, and now Genesis, Hyundai Motor Group has shown it can attract new owners and keep them,” said Tom Libby, associate director of loyalty solutions and industry analysis for S&P Global Mobility. “This opens up more options for a household that has the means to move up to a luxury vehicle, to stay within the corporation in a way that did not exist before Genesis.”
The leapfrogging of Genesis over Infiniti goes to show how important it is to build great cars people want.
Mercedes-Benz CEO: We Will Maintain ‘Tactical Flexibility’ On EV Sales
It seems like it was just yesterday I was writing about how German automakers need to take building good EVs for the entire market seriously or else. Because it was yesterday. Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius has some thoughts, as told to Reuters at the big auto show in Munch.
Europe’s EV market had grown significantly in recent years but likely wouldn’t be ready for all-electric sales by 2030, Kaellenius said on the sidelines of the Munich show.
“It’s not going to be 100% in 2030, obviously… from the whole European market, but probably from the Mercedes side as well,” he said.
“We will be ready … but we will also have tactical flexibility,” he said, referring to the ability to produce electric or combustion-engine vehicles on the same production line.
He’s probably not wrong, though I think Europe is in a better position to quickly make the transition to EVs than the United States is.
Could The UAW Impose Strategic Strikes?
If you listen to the rhetoric of UAW President Shawn Fain you might assume that the auto workers are going to strike against all three U.S. automakers, all their suppliers, and probably a few Dunkin Donuts just for funsies. That’s probably a terrible idea. Why?
Credit to Michael Martinez at Automotive News for a great rundown of all the UAW’s options, which include strategic strikes at places like transmission plants for profitable SUVs and pickups as opposed to, you know, everywhere. Why wouldn’t the UAW necessarily want to undertake the grand gesture of striking everywhere?
A mass walkout of nearly 150,000 workers would give Fain, who has a penchant for theatrics, the kind of headline-grabbing moment he often seeks. But it would rapidly deplete the UAW’s $825 million strike fund, a fact not lost on members who have publicly questioned whether the union can sustain a simultaneous strike long enough to strong-arm the automakers into better deals.
At $500 a week per member — potentially plus health care costs — the union has a few months’ worth of strike pay on hand.
A few months is still a long time, but as the report goes on to explain, a tactical strike could limit the impact on the strike fund while having an outsized impact on profitability, though it’s not a perfect solution:
“With just a few plants, you could have a pretty substantial impact to profitable vehicles without having that many employees walk,” Jeff Schuster, executive vice president of GlobalData, told Automotive News.
Such a tactic would limit what the union would have to pay out on the picket line since workers at plants shuttered for parts shortages would not get strike pay. But it could be fraught with legal risk, and people familiar with the matter say non-striking workers who get temporarily laid off would not be eligible for supplemental unemployment benefits from the automakers, and eligibility for traditional unemployment pay could vary based on state laws.
I guess we’ll find out in nine days.
The Big Question
If you had to buy a pickup truck right now, what would you buy? If you did recently purchase a pickup truck let us know what you got.
Gmc sierra 2500hd Duramax
If I had to buy a truck, it would be a huge monster truck to smash to pieces as many EV’s as possible
Dealers near me are still looking for their “useless middle man tribute” on Mavericks, and when I looked, I didn’t see anyone raving about a local dealer being a straight shooter on a factory order. I’m not going to wait around for a year just to have Crazy Bob’s Ford try and pull the rug out at delivery and tack on some $2k “protection package”.
Trucks with actual decent fuel economy is the way to go though. PHEV/AWD would be cool, but the price would likely get out of hand. Looking forward to the Tacoma, but suspect if it delivers the goods, it will also be impossible to buy like just about every other Toyota hybrid.
It’s amazing Ford managed to increase Maverick sales because I don’t know of anyone that’s been able to buy one for sticker, always at minimum MSRP+ if not MSRP+ and dealer add-ons.
If I were buying a truck today…
1-ton Chevy, crew cab, 8′ bed, 4×4, gas engine. Either WT package or the next one up from that. The fewer options the better, with the exception of maybe a decent stereo system, and the maximum tow package I can get.
“and for that you get a totally capable FWD vehicle that gets 42 MPG city and 33 MPG highway “
33mpg highway indicates bad aerodynamics…
“If you had to buy a pickup truck right now, what would you buy?”
It really would depend on my use-case. And I would only buy a pickup truck if I actually needed it.
Now having said that, if I had to buy a vehicle today and the only option was pickup trucks, then a Maverick hybrid with either a bed cover or a bed cap would be right at the top of my list. And I would probably go for a cap like this:
https://www.campway.com/leer-ford-maverick-low-profile-truck-cap/
Or the Aero-X cap with LOUVERS!!!
https://www.mivehiclesolutions.com/aero-x-cap
Just purchased a Nissan Frontier Pro4X (now my second Frontier in 10 years)
I purchased it because dollar for dollar you get more than a Tacoma or Colorado and better design and quality…this might also be the time to buy the last on the normally aspirated engines with no turbo and no hybrid, so I purchased it now and I will baby it till I die. Hoping to never have to buy a battery truck…
I doubt very much that at the age of 57, that I will see a small compact electric truck or any improvements to rural electrification before I retire, so buy now while you still can. HOWEVER! Had the Maverick been available, that would have been my second choice.
Wow, three pages of comments so far and nobody wants the Cybertruck?
Only one comment about it being a good doorstop.
Our F150 Lightning (XLT, standard range) is supposed to be built next week, depending on what happens with the UAW of course. It’s larger than what we need on a daily basis, but we spend all winter skiing in the mountains, so we wanted something that can hold 4 comfortably, plus AWD and room to haul gear. And the EV aspect was too appealing to pass up. Just hoping the Ford quality curse passes us by
Mine’s in for the 10,000 mile service today and it’s the first time it’s been back to the dealer since I picked up the plates. There isn’t a huge amount to go wrong!
You’re going to want the long range battery in the winter in the mountains though.
Yeah, I couldn’t justify the extra $10k. Plus, our home mountain is putting in chargers this fall, and we have a place to stay and hopefully charge overnight. And our home mountain is only 50 miles away from our full time place. I’m cautiously optimistic that we can make it work. Glad to hear yours has been worry-free!
Could someone explain to me the differences in utility/value proposition for the Ranger and Maverick? Feels weird having two different (modern definition of) “small” pickups in one manufacturer’s lineup.
Also, Autopian staff…do you have any input on The Verge’s recent article about how newer cars are privacy nightmares (based on a report from Mozilla)? I’m super curious if you had anything to add to that.
I wish they’d had a breakdown by models and what years start becoming problematic (i.e., internet tracking regardless of connection to your phone), but I’m sure that’d be far more trouble to research than it’s worth beyond all the work Mozilla already put into it.
There was one- but now there isn’t. At 20k for a Hybrid crew cab truck with a small footprint there was a definite value proposition for people to replace their car or suv and move to the Maverick. At nearly 30k for the Hybrid (an increase of 30%+ in one year!!) there is zero value proposition and with 26k for the Ecoboost, I guess you’re saving 10% for a lower payload, unibody with a 2 inch smaller footprint? At this point the Maverick or the Ranger is redundant. Ford totally pulled a Bait and Switch.
The Maverick is a ute and the Ranger is a truck.
And we should have standards for this. If you want to call something a truck it should be a truck. And by that I mean it should have a cab and a frame as two individual components.
Not that there’s anything wrong with one being a truck and the other being a ute. Both of those things are awesome! But words should mean things. Especially if you’re using them to try and get people to give you money in exchange for a product.
There’s still an argument because the Rangers themselves have become more expensive.
A Ranger XLT 4×4 with tow package and power seats comes out to $45k. A similar spec Honda Ridgeline is $43k. But the Maverick XLT 4×4 with power seats/tow is $35k.
If you only need moderate towing and a truck bed, the Maverick still makes a decent argument in the current automotive climate. But like rent, the prices for everything are still too damn high.
Purchased a new Ram 1500, V-6 E-torque; quad cab, 4wd, Bighorn with level one package-8.4″ Uconnect, power folding mirrors, heated seat/steering wheel; auto-dim rear mirror, power sliding rear window; MSRP $51k; selling price $40k ($42400 w/taxes and fees) in late July. It was assembled in March and had a dealer bump sticker of $59k in the window!!! Dealer seemed glad to move it and was a completely hassle-free transaction.
Getting between 22 and 23 mpg, but can hit 24mpg on a long highway run. It’s more truck than I need, but no regrets as I live in suburbia and have ample parking and won’t be taking it into the city very much, if at all.
Would I have bought a Maverick hybrid if it was on the lot at MSRP? Of course! But, that’s just not possible. Note: coming from a Honda Ridgeline, which is a fantastic vehicle, it was priced well above the Ram for the same level of equipment. (Deer damaged Ridgeline, thus had to replace.)
Honda really needs to electrify the Ridgeline, it would be a blockbuster as a PHEV
If I had to buy a new truck, i’d be going straight to a Mahindra dealer and buying a Scorpio Pikup.
It’s one of the last trucks you can buy which is just a truck, and isn’t slathered in unnecessary luxury features, or 40% bigger than it needs to be.
it can even take ~200kg more payload than a Ram 1500, which is nice.
I bought my wife a 2018 Ram 1500 ecodiesel to replace her 4runner. She needs to haul hay and tow her horse trailer around so needed something more capable than the 4runner, also the thing gets better fuel econommy than the 4runner and even better highway economy than my r53 MINI.
Bought a GMC Sierra for my wife a few months back. If it were for me, I probably would’ve gone with the inline 6 diesel. But with DEF and increased maintenance I figured it was best to keep things easy and stick with the gas 5.3 V8. Towed the Beetle down to Charlotte with ease a few weeks back, she wanted it to tow horse trailers in the future.
For me personally, I’ll stick with my old Mitsubishi Mighty Max. The official truck of Actually Doing Truck Things ™. Dump runs, Lowes runs, “hey can you help me pick up this washing machine” runs, and just general bombing around town.
If I went new Maverick but really best deal used I can find.
Even though it was made by grubby union hands?
Looking now, my F150 is getting older/higher mileage. Most likely going to go mid-sized due to cost, but having trouble pulling the trigger to go down a size. Plus, evering is just so expensive and nothing is out there I feel strongly about.
Leading candidates are Nissan Frontier (good value and simpler mechanicals and electronics), but I think the new colorado has a nice interior (but GM, so. . .).
One reason I’m still driving my old truck is that I’m not sure what I’d get right now if I had to replace it. I’ve complained before that I can’t get another Ram in the configuration I want, and even if I could it would be outrageously expensive because they bundled all the desirable features with crap I don’t want.
The PowerBoost is interesting, but I wish it had been bundled with the 2.7 instead of the 3.5 EB. I don’t need enough torque to move mountains, just enough to get my trailer up them, and I’d just as soon have 2.7 fuel economy as the basis for the powertrain. Also had some pretty bad reliability history with Ford trucks in my family, which doesn’t help convince me to spend PowerBoost money for one.
The GM twins don’t really have a killer feature I know of. I’m completely uninterested in getting Tundra MPG so that’s right out. Not interested in anything smaller than a full-size either because they’re too narrow and then I have to mess with tow mirrors for my trailer, and last I looked you couldn’t get factory ones either. Maybe that’s changed?
Basically the truck market is messy enough right now that I’m just holding off as long as I can. Hoping someone is going to release a slam dunk option for me, but I’m not holding my breath.
It’s interesting that you didn’t even mention the Titan. I guess that goes to show why Nissan is going to stop making them.
Surprisingly, I did remember the Titan but because I know it’s on death row it’s not factoring into my future plans because I assume it won’t be around by the time I’m looking to buy.
I would buy a Ranger, those things are pretty sharp.