Ford Maverick Fanbase Grows By Leaps, Bounds As Production of the Compact Pickup Soars

In 32 years of driving, Jay Whitehurst has never owned a truck. He’s also never owned a Ford.

Move To Farm Meant New Maverick

But after moving from New Orleans to a hay farm in rural Mississippi, lugging cans of diesel for farm equipment and animal food in the back of his Kia Soul wasn’t going to cut it. That’s when someone told him about the Ford Maverick and its sales impact.

“I didn’t want a big truck,” said Whitehurst, who works in radio broadcasting. “When the Maverick came out, I salivated. I test-drove a 2022 model year and walked away thinking, ‘Yeah, I think this is the truck for me.’”

Whitehurst is one of the thousands of customers who got their Maverick trucks faster thanks to the expanded production capacity installed in late 2023. This expanded capacity helped increase U.S. sales to 12,443 in January, nearly double the same month a year ago. January sales even topped that of the larger Toyota Tacoma. 

Timothy Bruggeman of Shawnee, Kansas, picked up his Ford Maverick Hybrid late last year – his second Maverick. He saw smaller pickups and even test-drove a Maverick while living in Brazil for his job as a power-plant engineer in 2022. When he returned to the States, he found a Maverick XLT at his local dealership to hold him over until his hybrid model was manufactured. 

Here’s A Pickup That Drives Like A Car

“It’s got the truck functionality I need but drives like a car,” said Bruggeman, who had never owned a truck before Maverick.

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He said he uses his truck to run to the hardware store for lumber or mulch in the spring and tosses his clay target equipment in the bed before heading to the range. His most unique-use case happened last Labor Day when he put a blow-up mattress in the bed so he had a place to relax while participating in the world’s longest baseball game.  

Brian Foster of Irvine, California, already had a 2023 Maverick XLT – now retrofitted with a midrise shell, seat covers and, an aftermarket stereo system – when he ordered a 2024 Maverick XL Hybrid for his son, who fell in love after borrowing dad’s Maverick for four months. Production for that truck is not yet scheduled, though the two found a truck in stock at Long McArthur Ford in Salina, Kansas, flew out, and made the 1,400-mile trip back to California.

Daughter Likely to Get Maverick XL

Foster said the 2024 Maverick XL Hybrid will likely go to his daughter after manufacturing it.

Foster also noted his trust in the hybrid model based on Ford’s history with that technology, which dates back to the world’s first hybrid SUV in 2005.

“My parents owned hybrid Ford vehicles since they were first introduced,” Foster said. “The hybrid drivetrain that's been well-proven paired with a truck is brilliant.”

Ford Motor Photo

Marc Stern has been an automotive writer since 1971. His automotive articles have appeared in venues including Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, and others. You can follow Marc on Twitter or Facebook.