Ford's Wise Move to Hybridize Trucks Pays off

Ford's Q1 delivery results highlighted the automaker's pride in its hybrid vehicle results. We interviewed Erich Merkle, Head of U.S. Sales Analysis at Ford Motor Company, to learn more details about how the company has capitalized on the strong demand for hybrid vehicles in America. This followed Ford’s early April deliveries report which offered three main points regarding hybrids:

1) The growth in hybrids helped Ford begin the year as America’s best-selling truck manufacturer, including pickups and vans. Maverick, with record Q1 sales, remains the No. 1 selling midsize pickup in America, outselling Toyota’s Tacoma. Nearly 60 percent of Maverick buyers are new to the Ford brand.

2) Across gas and hybrid vehicles, an increasing preference for hybrid trucks and SUVs helped deliver Ford the best-ever quarterly hybrid sales record. Ford Maverick was America’s No. 1 selling hybrid truck in Q1, continuing to bring new customers to the Ford brand. Maverick Hybrid sales were up 77 percent over a year ago on sales of 19,660.

3) Overall hybrid sales in Q1 were up 42 percent on sales of 38,421 vehicles. Hybrid growth is expected to continue as more versions of the new F-150 hybrid ship to dealers. Total Ford hybrid Q1 vehicle sales were the company’s best-ever in its more than two decades of offering customers hybrids.

Mr. Merkel told us that Ford is enjoying a surge of popularity of its hybrid models. Ford has been providing hybrids for more than two decades, and its shift toward hybridizing trucks is really the news here. The Maverick Hybrid has been popular since the very day it was announced. Unfortunately, its launch coincided with the industry shortage. It is only now that Maverick Hybrid’s production capacity is starting to catch consumer demand. In Q1, Ford delivered about 19,000 Maverick Hybrids, about half of the company's total hybrid sales in the quarter. That number is also half of the total Mavericks sold, making this a model with an approximate 50-50% split of hybrid and conventional powertrains. We didn’t realize it until Mr. Merkle told us that “The Maverick Hybrid’s deliveries are among the highest per-model hybrid deliveries in America after a few Toyota models, and number one in hybrid trucks.”

As important as the new(ish) Maverick hybrid is to Ford, the F-150 remains the company's foundation. In Q1, Ford was in the process of transitioning to a new generation, and the F-150 Hybrid was still about 10% of the model’s total sales. Here, Mr. Merkle sees some big things ahead. “We expected about 20% of F-150s to be hybrid trims in 2024,” said Mr. Merkle. “However, we have been running a bit ahead of that projection thus far.”

The Escape is Ford’s longest-running hybridized model. The Escape has been being sold as a hybrid in smaller numbers than it could because its powertrain is limited by the Maverick’s take rate. At the present time, Mr. Merkle told us that the “Escape hybrid is mostly build to order.” The Plug-in hybrid-electric Escape is chugging along at low volume. Together the two totaled approximately 4,500 units.

Ford’s Interceptor police vehicle, which is part of the Explorer family of products, is still selling quite well, with about 4,000 units delivered. Police departments see the value in the Interceptor hybrid, and many departments are now adding Mustang Mach-Es to their fleets as well. If ever there was a great example of hybrids being a bridge to battery-electric this is it.

Lincoln’s midsized Nautilus Hybrid is also ramping up. Q1’s deliveries were approaching 2,000 units, and the company expects more as production capacity is maximized.

With hybrids now being very popular among shoppers, Ford is positioned well to take advantage of hybrid popularity. With trucks clearly the company’s main focus, we at Torque News would not be surprised to see a Ranger hybrid added to the offerings at some future point. As it stands now, Ford offers both small and full-size trucks, two hybrid crossover offerings within its Escape lineup, and the Nautilus midsize SUV as a premium option.

Image of Ford Maverick Hybrid by John Goreham.

John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.