The Maverick will not ride on the Ranger’s body-on-frame chassis but rather the same unibody platform underpinning both the Bronco Sport and Escape. That may have alarmed some compact truck enthusiasts at first, but anyone who’s seen the Bronco Sport’s impressive off-road capabilities thanks to its advanced AWD system should have no reason to fear. We don’t know yet whether the Maverick will come standard with AWD but it’ll definitely be optional.
Under the hood, there’s a good chance the Maverick will share the Bronco Sport’s engines as well, the 1.5- and 2.0-liter EcoBoost engines with 181 and 245 horsepower, respectively. The SUV’s eight-speed automatic transmission is also expected to be carried over. Pricing should start at around $20,000.