The EV demand question the media keeps talking about is likely be clearer in retrospect, leaving those of us following closely in the present to guess what’s actually happening. Add in the Inflation Reduction Act (i.e. incentives) and supply chain woes, and there’s a lot of noise in the data. Still, Ford has become the second-biggest seller of electric cars in the United States behind Tesla, and is seeing its hybrid sales catapult. The company’s gas-powered cars? Ehh… not so great last month.
This is, in some ways, a general reflection of the market. Typically sales pick up at the end of the year, and that’ll probably be the case this quarter, but some normalizing in the economy could make it rougher on automakers (and easier on buyers).
The Morning Dump then sails to Denmark where Danish dockworkers are ready to aid their Swedish brethren in the ongoing labor action against Tesla. And, finally, things ain’t looking great for GM’s Cruise.
ICE Sales Down, Maverick Sales Up 252% Year-Over-Year
Ford reports car sales monthly, whereas GM and Stellantis report quarterly, so figuring out how much credence to give to one month of sales is a little tricky, especially post-strike. Overall, Cox Automotive estimates an industry-wide sales increase in November of 6.5%, so Ford’s overall drop of 0.5% doesn’t look great.
A deeper dive into the numbers reveals something interesting, however, as both the company’s electric and hybrid vehicles saw big increases for the month. Specifically, Mach-E sales increased 21% and F-150 Lightning sales were up almost 114%. Those are big increases.
This is happening against a backdrop of Ford revising some of its EV plans as the company considers how many consumers want electric vehicles. Ford’s interim step is to increase hybrids, and that seems to be working well, with Ford hybrid electric vehicles increasing in sales by 75% year-over-year. The Maverick (sold as both hybrid and non-hybrid) was up about 39% month-over-month and a huge 252% year-over-year.
The company’s gas-powered cars were down 6.5% year-over-year.
Is there some strike-effect here? Possibly. As The Detroit News reports:
Numerous nameplates under the Ford brand were down in October, including the Bronco SUV, the Explorer SUV, the Expedition SUV, the Ranger pickup, the Transit and E-Transit cargo vans, the F-Series trucks and heavy trucks. The plants producing most of these vehicles had been on strike as a part of the UAW’s 41-day work stoppage that ended Oct. 25.
This is a small blip of data. Let’s look at some broader data.
The Economy Is Normalizing And Improving… It’s Improvalizing?
We are still in the post-pandemic times, so everyone’s trying to come back to something like normal. The pandemic period saw a sudden decrease in the availability of goods and a sudden increase in government transfer payments (i.e. stimulus aimed at giving money to individuals and households without any specific good or service rendered to the government).
Now, governments and central banks around the world are trying to slow the resulting inflation that occurred while also not tipping the world into a recession. So far, so good, at least in these United States.
I’m a big fan of the economic summaries from Cox Automotive which paint a larger economic picture and help tie that back into automotive sales. The car market does not exist in a vacuum and is both a driver (when car companies built fewer cars and prioritized higher margin vehicles this contributed to inflation) and a passenger (high interest rates are dampening sales and margins) in our economy.
So what’s the latest report say?
Economic growth for the third quarter was revised up in the latest estimate to the strongest in almost two years. Accelerating growth in consumer spending was a major driver of the growth, but the opposite is happening in the fourth quarter.
And:
The Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (PCE), the key gauge of inflation that the Fed follows for adjusting interest rates, was unchanged in October and was lower than expected. Overall price inflation, according to the PCE, fell to 3.0% in October compared with a year ago and from 3.4% in September, while the core inflation rate declined to 3.5% from 3.7% in September.
PCE measures of inflation are at the lowest year-over-year levels since the spring of 2021. Factoring in inflation, real spending increased 0.2% in October, decelerating from a downwardly revised 0.3% in September.
You are welcome to whatever interpretation of the data you like, but my general sense is that long-held fears of a recession are starting to wane, and slowing inflation has most consumers feeling guardedly better about the future, though not enough for everyone to suddenly start making big purchases.
Inventory levels are rising and, as previously discussed, there are signs that consumers might at least see interest rates leveling off a bit. Ultimately, buyers care more about their monthly payments than about interest rates, so increased incentives should help bring those payments down and make this a December to remember.
Elon Musk Is Learning Why You Don’t Mess With Swedish Unions
Sweden isn’t exactly the biggest car market in the world, but it’s an important one for electric vehicles as they currently command about 40% of new car sales. In theory, Tesla probably doesn’t want to abandon that market. At the same time, Tesla doesn’t seem to want to recognize a union in that country.
Reportedly, cleaners refuse to clean Tesla buildings, electricians refuse to work on service stations, and the post office won’t deliver mail to Tesla.
And now, according to Reuters, it’s spreading:
Denmark’s 3F labour union said on Tuesday it will support Swedish mechanics in their strike action against Tesla (TSLA.O), and will refuse to unload or transport cars made by the U.S. auto company for customers in Sweden.
“Like the companies, the trade union movement is global in the fight to protect workers,” 3F Chair Jan Villadsen said in a statement, adding that Sweden’s IF Metall union had asked 3F to help.
I’m glad to see these two countries burying the hatchet after the Kalmar War of 1611. At some point do you think Elon Musk would rather leave Sweden than recognize a union?
Rough Days Ahead For Cruise
I’ve already detailed all the problems with Cruise that led up to the CEO’s resignation, but it sounds like regulators aren’t done with Cruise yet.
From Bloomberg via Automotive News:
The California Public Utilities Commission said Cruise must show up at a hearing on Feb. 6 to show why the company shouldn’t be fined for “making misleading public comments regarding its interactions with the Commission.” Cruise could pay up to $100,000 per incident in which it failed to disclose information to regulators about the accident.
Obviously, GM/Cruise can pay the amount, but more importantly, the company needs to get out of the headlines to start to rebuild trust. That’s not going to happen until it can resolve all the existing issues.
The Big Question
Should I buy a Maverick? I should probably buy a Maverick, Which Maverick? Spec a Maverick for me. It seems universally beloved; has it lost any of its charm over the years in your eyes?
When I see the picture up there of the buy here, pay here lot with a bunch of old microcars, I somehow don’t believe inventory levels have recovered all that much. /s
The explosion of Maverick sales is proof that the Ranger had little to no sales potential because it’s still too damn big. The T6 Ranger is the F-150 for the rest of the world where they actually have width regulations. The Maverick is still bigger than the true original Ranger, but it’s one of the smallest trucks on the market, which is what truck buyers for years have been saying they wanted. There’s nothing competing with the Maverick because the Ridgeline and Santa Cruz are a size class larger, so it’s got an entire purchasing base to itself. It’s just a shame that because it’s based on the Escape/Bronco Sport that you can’t get it as a single cab, because although it’d be a small niche Ford would really have it all to itself.
In the U.S. we’re fucked. No getting around that. We never recovered from 2008, just kept treating the symptoms and acting like it was all okay. 2021 didn’t necessarily make the situation worse, it just sped up the timeline. With fewer career positions and fewer investment opportunities, both of which are necessary for stable finances, people spend erratically, which doesn’t help the economy.
And with everything turning into a digital service the wealth gets extracted from the local economy and doesn’t return. If in a small town a person gets paid and then they spend that money on a service like Netflix, that money’s gone from that small town. It’s never returning. The money got sucked into the international economy. It’s in stark contrast to brick and mortar stores where some money was brought into the national or international economy, but some of it was also recirculated back into the local economy because employees of the store would buy at other local businesses. Now, without that local circulation the corporations will continue pulling the money upwards in the pyramid. Not every type of business can convert to this model, but enough have that it’s making money essentially disappear.
And that’s not even getting into the fact that corporations have become so big that the only way they can continue to grow is to market to other corporations. Individual customers have so little financial impact at places like Comcast NBC Universal that most sustaining business strategies these days ignore them and target inter-company transactions. I’m thinking of Cisco advertising on TV about industrial networking equipment, or Intuit advertising their “business solution” payroll software.
In short, things are returning to the normal pace of regression and degradation, which looks like an improvement relative to the unprecedented chaos of 2021.
I assure you that NBCUniversal has a vested interest in individual customers, but I get your point.
About all that’s left is services facilitating the international economy in a given locality.
There is only one way to survive the modern economy. Do something useless. Go take selfies of yourself in exotic locations, throw or kick a ball or chase a puck for money, blither into a microphone. Just make sure it’s completely unproductive and you will thrive.
You do realize that influencers are doing influencing because there are no jobs, right? These people are doing the whole bootstraps thing out of necessity.
My wife has had a Maverick XLT Hybrid for 3 months and loves it. I have to admit, it’s pretty great. My only complaint is sitting in the back the speakers are right in your ear. The good is 43 MPG and that the driving modes actually do something. Sport mode gives the CVT shifting sensation and really dials up the power. For 30k out the door I couldn’t be happier.
Imagine the hysterics on Wall Street if suddenly US labor forces coordinated to punch balls on a national scale.
Stop! I can only get so excited before bad things happen.
Give us a Maverick Raptor goddammit
Give us an AWD PHEV Maverick!
Yeah I’d probably buy one tbh
Remember that Solidarity Action is illegal everywhere not in Scandinavia due to being an incredibly effect form of collective bargaining. So good luck to Mr. Musk, may his complaints fall on deaf ears.
And about your upcoming purchase of the Dallas Mavericks. Luka is obviously a keeper at all cost. Kyrie is where it gets interesting. Is he the best running partner for Luka, I don’t think so. However 3nD’s haven’t really worked out in Dallas. Idk, if I was you. I’d probably trade Kyrie for a good rim runner, and maybe a useful 3nD guy if you can get it. Really optimized your main piece. Anyways, have fun with Mark!
Agreed, swap out Kyrie for a hybrid model that you can put a lot of miles on. That’s where you’ll find the best value.
Yeah, you’re really going to need someone that can carry some weight. Luka can tow this team to the playoffs, but it’s a lot mileage on a single person. Getting a Clint Capela or someone similar would really help on light load days, like when their playing the Hornets.
COTD!! HOly crap I lol’d in my cubicle and almost snarfed my sandwich.
I finally sat in a Maverick at an auto show earlier this year, a cloth XLT – comfort and dash were good, met expectations for cheap ‘n’ cheerful and also comfortable. Bronco Sport was a bit disappointing actually, I didn’t find whatever spec it was very comfortable (had leather so a spec above). Flip the trims and perhaps it would be the same, don’t know.
I like the Maverick but I don’t think enough to get one. I also find it silly that you still can’t get proximity key/pushbutton start on an XLT at nearly $30k to start, only the Lariat.
A hybrid Maverick I would recommend to a lot of people but I don’t think it’s right for me; comparing turbo powertrains, I like the Santa Cruz as a vehicle more. Ford has the advantage of more entry trims and with more power, but once you equip them similarly the price isn’t far apart at all. But then neither brand would be high on my shopping list right now.
Us lowly luddites do not want pushbutton start on our base model xlt, thank you.
XLT isn’t base, there’s still the XL below that complete with steelies even, so you’re in luck. I just find it odd you can add numerous options to an XLT if you want, even all the various driving aids, but that fairly common feature is locked out.
I don’t know much more about the Maverick than how to spell it (Thanks, IMDB!) so I’d be useless on this question. So I’ll go a different route…
I’m no economist, but I do try to pay attention to the “big” news from different outlets and try and get a grasp. That being said, It’s my understanding that a lot of the consumer spending increase is based on credit spending. So, while the numbers may look positive, they are really just looking at the broadest of numbers and not accounting (badumbump) for the why supporting them and the future ramifications. I don’t have much confidence that the US is avoiding a recession where things stand today if that is true.
I’m also concerned that our military involvement in two wars currently, and most likely two more in the upcoming Venezuela/Guyana shitshow and the inevitable Taiwan dust up, are really just an excuse to send other countries our equipment that is almost out of warranty and build fancy new toys for ourselves. Furthermore, I don’t think that any of this is going to change regardless of who gets elected because who loves that sweet, sweet war money more than the U.S doing a Telly Sevalis impersonation.
We don’t really have the money to be f’n around overseas like we are, and if we just keep printing it…you know the rest.
Disclaimer: The Holiday Inn Express was booked last night, so I had to stay at the airport Econo Lodge. So, just like the guest lobby toilet, I might be full of shit.
As with so many things, a lot of it depends on your interpretation of the facts. See link below. Credit card debt is at an all time high in absolute terms. Adjusted for inflation it is approximately where it was pre-pandemic. Adjusted for disposable income, it’s up from pandemic lows, but only to the level of a decade ago
https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2023/12/three-measures-of-us-credit-card-debt/?utm_source=series_page&utm_medium=related_content&utm_term=related_resources&utm_campaign=fredblog
Thanks for the link. It states in there that it is only accounting for bank-issued credit cards, so I wonder if those numbers include “Buy Now Pay Later” companies like Affirm and Klarna and the rest. Seems to me that it doesn’t as those companies don’t fall in that category, bu they might. Either way, these BNPL companies are huge now and a far cry from the old Rent-To-Own retail stores of the past.
A lot of those are secretly bank-issued cards with very specific restrictions. Can’t speak to those particular ones, but Synchrony backs a bunch of buy now pay later stuff, and TD Bank backs Samsung’s (and others) interest-free payment plans.
It certainly is an interesting industry. This is from the Affirm Wiki page:
“Affirm raises funding from banks, insurance firms and the capital markets to front up loans.[37] The company makes money by earning a commission from merchants and by charging interest on the loans opted for by the consumers.[38] The commission earned from merchants can sometimes be as high as 12.5%.[37] The interest rates and other loan terms vary, depending on consumers and the merchants they purchase from, according to Affirm. The annual percentage rates (APRs) for the loan interest range from 10% to 36%, the upper limit on the loan amount is $25,000, and the payback period ranges from 1 to 48 months…”
It appears they are “middlemanning” transactions.
That sounds about right. Doing a zero interest payment plan for a bed opened me up a synchrony credit account tied to the mattress store, and my girlfriend was shocked to learn taking advantage of the 0% interest on a Samsung washer and dryer meant a hit to my credit (still excellent, so no real issue), since the TD Bank account they did that through was maxed out at first. She thought those would look more like auto loans on credit reporting.
The interest rates become horrific if you don’t pay extra to ensure you meet the zero interest timeframe. I assume that’s the goal–tell people it’s zero interest, then charge them so little they end up getting hit with several years of massive interest. The whole financial industry can be scammy, but this is one scam on another scam’s shoulders, barely covered by a trenchcoat.
Yeah, those zero interest but giant interest if payment missed or promo period exceeded loans are incredibly available currently. They can be a useful financial tool if you’re good with finances and read the fine print before taking one on. Free money while my own money does its thing to make me a little more is objectively a good deal. But like all high reward financial tools there’s a large downside risk.
Oh, I’m aware they are a good deal if you use them correctly. That’s why I do. But they really sort of hide the ball on it. At least the last couple I’ve done have been really bad about giving you a minimum payment and the fine print, but no payment amount to ensure you finish within the timeframe. Samsung/TD Bank went so far as to break out minimum payment amounts for each item on the transaction while still not making it clear anywhere how much to pay monthly to avoid interest. I’ll give them credit for making it clear that the requested payment amount wouldn’t do it, but I think that may be a legal requirement.
I can and will do the math, but it still feels sleazy that they operate by hoping people don’t pay enough attention.
BNPL’s make their money by presenting as a marketing opportunity to businesses, they actually don’t charge the consumer anything over what the transaction would have already cost- the seller is paying for the payment service, just like a credit card. I’ve actually started taking advantage of them recently for bigger purchases by parking the money I would otherwise have to pay upfront into treasury notes, scalping a few percent on the money that I wouldn’t otherwise have.
I’m sure eventually they’ll work out a way to fuck the consumer over, but at the moment they represent a slight discount you can take advantage of at the store’s expense.
Good take, I concur. I think a lot of the increased spending is “doom spending”, people that are already in the hole and feeling hopeless, saying “Eff it”, and just trying to live a good life on credit.
I feel seen
I get it. I’ve been trying to save for a house (LOLz), but after spending an afternoon with my dad with early onset dementia last summer, I spent 3k on a new mountain bike, because f*ck it.
As a wise man once said, “everything is f*cked, everybody sucks”.
Sometimes you just gotta live it up.
I have a Maverick (AWD Ecoboost) and you should buy one with the following considerations:
-The cabin is compact. I have a car seat in there for an 18 mo old but if you need a lot of cabin volume it might not be the best choice.
-Ecoboost has plenty of power. I was tempted by the hybrid but I wanted AWD and to get the towing package. Keep in mind whether or not those are issues for you
-Since you’re in the business you’ve probably had or could probably get an opportunity to drive one first but the only complaint I have about it’s driving ability is that the suspension is pretty stiff on mine. The rear did soften up once I maxed out the bed payload once.
All in all I really love it. Having a pickup is super useful for me, and having one that’s small is another bonus. As far as specs I’m happy with mine: XLT with FX4, luxury and towing packages. If you live somewhere warm consider the hybrid, but I think XLT is the trim to get in either case.
Don’t buy a Maverick, buy a Renegade, officially discontinued (miss the news??). Considering no one has bought them, they are limited and collectible, future BaT star.
Wow – I totally did miss the news. Shame. That was a great little trucklet.
Agree that it will be a future BaT star.
A car you won’t regret leaving the dealer wrapper on and never driving.
RE: Maverick
Still a great truck, however I wish they’d do something about the front end. It just looks awkward to me.
RE: Musk
He is the world’s biggest baby. If he doesn’t get his way he takes his toys and leaves. He will 100% leave Sweden if his handlers let him.
World’s second biggest after Mary Barra you mean. In the article which you may or may not have read they did actually point out that somebody has done this before.
It gets cold in November, so there’s less demand for ICE.
I didn’t see it in the article (and if I missed it, sorry) but do those Maverick numbers represent a huge jump in actual vehicle deliveries or just orders?
The Maverick’s OK. Still too big for me, among other things, so it’s never going to be near the top of my list. Plus, the more I see them on the street, the more the things I don’t like about the design are apparent. Still, I’m glad it’s on the market and popular.
Still too big? What do you drive?
The Maverick is as long and tall as my ’89 F150. There is no such thing as a modern small truck.
Ah you changed your comment. Never mind.
I wrote this in an email thread discussing the Maverick when it was first announced, it seemed apt to share it in this comment thread.
I’d feel much safer in the Maverick than the Toyota though.
Depends on your definition of safety. Getting T-boned? Probably. Off road, deep snow, rough roads, etc.? I’d feel much safer in the Toyota than the Maverick.
You shouldnt
I have owned I think 7 mid 80’s nissan 720s, in both regular and king cab. I still own a couple of them right now. I daily drove those trucks through the late 2000s and early 2010s. I am often sad we don’t have a modern equivalent. I wish Alpha Auto wasn’t a vaporware company because the Alpha Wolf is freaking awesome, though it could be bigger than I think. Frankly, most of their designs would be amazing to see on the road.
This sounds more complimentary to the Maverick to me—physically larger with all the modern safety and other regulatory stuff, more power, yet lighter. The rest of the spec is better in 90% of cases and the difference in capabilities could even be chalked up to different purposes, anyway. The Maverick isn’t intended to be the modern incarnation of the Toyota pickup, which is the Tacoma that is larger, heavier, and costs more.
Larger but with less ground clearance, no BOF construction, same tow rating (for AWD). For the AWD variant you have a less durable rear end, a less durable engine, less durable transmission, etc.
The Maverick is basically the first of its kind. A smaller (old midsize sized) crew cab unibody pickup, the Honda Ridgeline is a larger (old fullsize sized) crew cab unibody pickup that came before. The closest thing I can find to Maverick that predates it would be the first gen VW Caddy pickup, and that was a much better pickup, worse tow rig, but it is the closest old analog to it I’ve found.
I agree that the modern Tacoma is worse than the old one. Luckily BEVs are so efficient the footprint rule is basically irrelevant so we do actually have the potential to see small trucks, small SUVs, small pickups, etc. make a comeback.
The Maverick is also as long as a Chrysler 300, which is (at least nominally) a full-size car.
I mean too big for a small truck. I prefer something closer to the small pickups of the past. The Ram 700 is close to my ideal, but Stellantis won’t bring that here. Even the Santa Cruz is too large and it’s a bit shorter than the Ford (wider, though).
As long as you know that many of the small pickups of the past still exist and are $4000 on Facebook marketplace right now.
I’m actively looking at old trucks and utes, now. Toughest part is finding a clean, rust-free example. While a good runner would be nice, I can handle the mechanicals. Bodywork, not so much.
At least in my area 4k is plenty for something clean and running well. Good luck on your hunt!
I would be first in line for the Ram 700. I raged for days when the announcement dropped that it would only be in select SA markets.
Make mine a 2-door with the manual. Odd that Stellantis would push a Fiat Jeep (Renegade) in the US market for eight years, but not try a Strada-based truck like the 700, especially since they’ve got nothing else in the class here.
“Because it would cut into those huge Ram 1500 profits.”
I don’t think anyone shopping for a Ram 700 would cross shop a 1500, or vice versa, so I don’t see a small pickup cutting full-size sales. Now, that said, it is accurate that small Japanese pickups did attract buyers from full-size pickups in the 70s, but there were other factors involved.
First, full-size pickups used to be significantly smaller so the size differential between small and large meant that going small didn’t cost buyers much in hauling capability. Definitely not the case today. Second, the fuel crisis drove many to the economy trucks. Once gas was cheap again, buyers lined up for bigger and bigger trucks and small trucks became their own market segment that attracted people who would never want a large truck. This persisted until mid-sizing, SUVs, and buying trucks as cars killed the small pickup here.
I would think a true small pickup would more likely impact vehicles like the Gladiator and the proposed new Rampage midsize (or small midsize since it appears to fall somewhere between a Maverick and a Ranger) than the Ram 1500.
Mainly it’s production capacity catching up with the order demand. The factory is finally able to build double per month what they were a year ago. Part of that is materials availability and they opened up a third shift of production starting back in June.
That is good news for Ford customers.
Obvious answer is to instead get the Honda Sprocket concept truck.
Wait for the next order window. Most dealers will honor MSRP on customer orders, plus there are rumors of the refresh. I just got a build date on an order, but I’m probably cancelling and waiting to see if there’s something better for the 2025 model.
If I’m speccing one today, I’d spec it the way I ordered: Lariat hybrid, no sunroof, no accessories. I like blue or red, but color is up to you. The sad thing is, the first spec I did was better. The decontenting and the loss of yellow really made my build a lot less appealing. It’s not a huge thing, but the securicode and the heated wiper parks were nice features that I wanted.
It was almost enough to push me down to an XLT and add things I wanted. I would replace the seats with Katzkins or something, anyway. But the Lux package having the hard drop-in bedliner and almost getting up to Lariat price keep me from going that way.
Also, if it weren’t for my small garage and lack of desire for another full-size pickup, the Lightning is getting discounts now. There’s a local dealer knocking $11,500 off the Lariat. Only $5500 off the XLT, so the price difference between the two is negligible.
11500 before the 7500 Ford incentive and 7500 tax rebate?
Before the tax rebate or the 5k lease cash. They aren’t showing a 7500 Ford incentive, and the Ford website isn’t showing that for my zip.
It’s a good deal, but it still ends up over 60k total.
That’s a giant discount. Around here only one dealer is advertising prices below MSRP (before incentives), and it’s only a $2K discount. I wonder what they are actually selling for. I’m in New England.
I’m in Idaho. And my dealings with this dealership lead me to believe that I might convince them to go a little lower if I pushed. They show 42 Lightnings for sale right now. Some are in transit (and not showing any discount yet), but they have excess inventory. The same dealership chain has a Kia dealership that was going to sell me that green limited edition EV6 for a similar discount, but I had to think about it and missed out. They have a worse location than the competition, but they generally win on pricing.
I’m in NH. Grappone Ford in Concord/Bow was offering Lightnings at 10% off MSRP before the Ford incentive or tax credit, they are worth checking out. Ask for John, this was about a month ago
Thanks! I’m in Maine, I haven’t dug in with a salesperson yet to see how low they will go. The gas trucks are being advertised at 8-10% off MSRP.
If you were to get a Maverick the only one you should get is a Maverick Hybrid, it uses licensed Toyota Hybrid tech with a planetary e-CVT (not belt or chain CVT).
Ecoboost engines in general are not long lived, nor are Ford’s newer automatic transmissions (especially not the FWD ones). Combine the two in a pickup and you’re bound to have issues.
What I was waiting for was a Manual transmission variant and or a 2 door long bed Hybrid variant. However now I’m out of the market for that.
Supposedly, they fixed the coolant issue in 2018. I wouldn’t trust, though, as it’s Ford and I would think they would have to change castings to fix the issue. If they were going to do that, why didn’t they fix it earlier? Maybe the equipment needed to be changed out as it was worn from the high volumes and they just updated it then, but who knows? —someone who’s 2.0 Ecoboost failed from the 2/3 cylinder coolant passage issue.
The Maverick isn’t available in orange anymore 🙁
Yeah, that was the color I’d originally wanted and it really made me rethink the whole thing when they dropped that color, the securicode pad, and the heated wiper parks.
They dropped the keypad and heated wipers too?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Damn that’s the one I wanted. Cyber orange XLT Hybrid was what I wanted when they first came out. Unfortunately they were unobtanium. Atlas blue metallic isn’t a bad second choice but damn that’s a bummer. I’ve only seen white and grey ones in my travels. Maybe if they release a PHEV Maverick (I’m not giving up dammit!) they’ll bring back cyber orange.
I’ve seen pretty much every color around here. Atlas blue is nice, but the yellow/orange was absolutely the best. The hot pepper red is pretty nice, though, too. I’d love to see them offer eruption green and/or bring back cyber orange. And I’m with you on holding out some hope for a PHEV.
All I see here is Area 51, I almost don’t believe it comes in any other color
Same and extend that to the Bronco and Bronco Sport too, lol.
That color is definitely overrepresented. I think I’ve seen alto blue the least, and for good reason. Nobody wants to pay extra for a blue dark enough they may as well have gotten the black. Cactus was somewhat popular at first, but then it seemed like it plummeted.
dude the Anitmatter Blue on the F150 is freaking awesome IMHO, and it looks black until the sun hits it
Yeah, it’s nice, but it doesn’t cost extra. I think people paying extra for a color want it to be very obviously different, generally. I could be wrong, of course.
“At some point do you think Elon Musk would rather leave Sweden than recognize a union?”
“I think he would leave EARTH if he could!
But he doesn’t realize the unions will follow him to Mars just like the evil AI robots. Funny article yesterday on that he thought he could leave all Earths problems behind and they would never make it to Mars. Uh Hello, Earth isn’t the problem, its Humans.
You should buy a Maverick, but only at MSRP or below. The Maverick I tried to buy but couldn’t order no matter how many times I asked my local dealer was an Ecoboost AWD XLT with the XLT Luxury package. Atlas Blue metallic because actual colors are the way to go, and spray-bed liner. No other options or dumb appearance packages, they just kill the value proposition. As spec’d for a 2024 is 33k, if you don’t want/need AWD sure, save yourself a few grand and get the Hybrid, but I’d argue this is peak and correct maverick.
Tesla sold 9200 vehicles in Sweden in all of 2022, but they jumped massively to 18,500 in the first 11 months of this year to become the country’s #5 brand, after Volvo, Volkswagen, Kia, and Toyota, but ahead of Audi and BMW. In volumes, it’s a rounding error, but if they start pulling a Mary Barra and retreat from every market where they experience some difficulty, where does it end? Do they do like GM and give up on trying to be a global automaker and retreat to only their three friendliest markets? Recognizing unions in Sweden doesn’t mean they have to recognize them here, lots of companies are unionized in areas where they have to be and not in areas where they can get away with it, so it could be an inconsequential thing for them, or it could be the opening of the floodgates.
Honestly, a rational CEO would probably cave in at this point and work out a deal with the Swedish union, go on a PR charm offensive, and hope that’s the end of it for now. But, Elon Musk is such an unpredictable wildcard, who the hell knows. Some of it might depend on how well he slept the night before
EV sales will definitely go up after the first of the year with the subsidies at point of sale adding to folks ability to buy and use the subsidy as down payment.
As far as Maverick – I really like the 1972 Grabber with a 302.
Excellent choice!
And that was the last year before the bumpers started embigifying, too. Stock steelies? Or would you throw Keystones on?
Steelies
Painted body color – or the color of the tape stripes.
There’s nothing wrong with the Grabber but personally I’d go with a 1976 Stallion or perhaps one of the Brazilian-market variants like the Super Luxo or the GT.
I prefer the ’72 because of the smaller bumpers and pre-73 emissions.
And the pre-#MeToo nomenclature.
Tho the ’72 Sprint was a close second.
The ’76 Stallion feels a bit – overpromising.
Buy a used Maverick and swap a Focus RS drivetrain into it as an Autopian project car!
Last I checked used Mavericks are still going for over MSRP of a new Maverick despite the steady price bumps
Counterpoint: If it’s used, you feel less guilty about ripping the engine out and replacing it with a Ford Focus RS drivetrain.
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t the Swedish courts rule against the postal service from not delivering plates to Tesla? I think the rest of the unions striking are still a go at least.
Yes the postal service has to deliver the plates but the union may decide to fuck the postal service over and not deliver the plates, requiring them to find scabs for just that one customer.
They only needed to deliver plates to the new Tesla customers that are waiting for plates. After that they’re not selling any more cars since they’re not getting unloaded, so no more deliveries.
The problem with the Maverick is, as usual, Ford dealers. If you could buy one at MSRP, or buy a used one for below MSRP, then yes, you should definitely buy a Maverick. Probably a yellow XLT hybrid with the upgraded radio.
You shouldn’t buy a Maverick. I don’t like them. It’s a “crew cab” short bed only FWD crossover that’s bad at carrying five people AND bad at doing anything you actually need a pickup for.
I still fail to see a single thing a sawed off Bronco Sport can do that a regular Bronco Sport can’t. There are several things a regular Bronco Sport can do that a sawed off one can’t.
Just making sure you know that the Bronco Sport is not universally beloved.
I also find the Maverick love a bit overstated.
This is my general issue with many crew cab pickups. You fill the cab with adults and no you have no payload, you fill the bed with stuff and now you can’t fill the cab with adults without overloading it. The bed is still short, and the cab is still long, but you’re stuck being unable to use both at once. With a standard cab or extended cab pickup I’ve never seen or heard of a situation where you fill up the cab with people and suddenly you cannot haul anything in the bed.
I have never heard of an issue like this with a crew cab pickup. Most pickups are good for at least 1500lb of payload, five large 200lb adults is 1000lb and you weren’t going to put more than 500lb in that short bed anyways. Five 150lb adults leaves you 750lb in the bed. Not that I’ve ever seen five adults in a crew cab.
No, the issue with crew cab pickups is that they aren’t really pickups at all. A pickup is just a car with a large open bed that prioritizes cargo volume over passenger volume. A big ol cab and a 5.5′ bed does not prioritize cargo volume over passenger volume and is such conceptually indistinguishable from a Tahoe.
500lbs isn’t much, especially with the high bedsides modern Trucks have it’s pretty easy to get more than 500lbs safely in a bed.
That’s also an issue.
I’d argue that crew cab short bed pickups have more issues with them than non crew cab pickups in terms of practicality, however because of how underbuilt most non-trucks and non-SUVs are for our crumbling roads it’s no surprise that people want something that can go down the road without worrying about a low profile tire blowing out, or scraping the underside of your low to the ground sedan. The only reason these durable vehicles come in Pickup and SUV form is because the MPG regs for Pickups and SUVs are much lower than they are for sedans and hatchbacks.
500lb is a fair bit, I rarely have that much in my 8′ bed with equally high sides. In fact I think the only times I’ve had more than 500-750lb is when I was hauling a pallet of bricks, or 1500lb of fencing and concrete, or when I was hauling rock. Which is why I can’t imagine a Maverick or most short bed pickups having more than that in the bed. Even hauling furniture or ATVs I’m rarely much more than 500lb.
Not sure how bad the roads are in your area, but in general I sort of have a hard time believing that roads are particularly worse than they ever have been. Still, a Maverick won’t take a pothole better than the similar Bronco Sport, which won’t take a pothole better than the similar Escape, which won’t take a pothole better than the similar Fusion, which won’t take a pothole any better than a Corolla.
You can still buy cars with real tires, and most “SUVs” or new “compact trucks” are not more durable than your average sedan or hatchback in the slightest, considering theyre exactly the same underneath.
Yeah, I see this a lot, but I’ve driven close to 1 million miles in my own cars, have never owned a truck or even a big car and I have never incurred any kind of tire or wheel damage from potholes and have never needed to align a car unless a component was replaced due to age related wear that required it (and they usually lasted longer than expected). I’ve even driven over traffic islands, curbs at speed, and bombed gravel roads too beat up for the PO to deliver on (that mk1 Legacy was a tank). Hell, while certainly stiffer, the ’86 almost glides over broken pavement that the SUVs everyone else has slam and bang over. I did go with 17″ wheels over the 18s, though. I don’t know what my magic trick is, but I suspect it has something to do with people regularly braking into a pothole—particularly in an “oh shit a big pothole!” panic), which momentarily locks the wheel as it becomes unloaded before slamming into the other side with more concentrated force directed into the wheel and suspension than if it was still rotating, an effect all the worse in a heavier vehicle. I learned to drive before the ubiquity of ABS and owned used cars without it well after it was widespread, so I learned to lift before impact (when possible) with such surfaces so the wheels wouldn’t lock up with the varied friction and tire loads. Nowadays, ABS would prevent wheels locking post impact, but not during the impact and I think that’s why I don’t have the problems others do. I don’t know any reasonable way to prove it and would love to know if this is the reason or if my tires have a very busy guardian angel.
So much this. Suspension components, tires, and wheels last way longer when they aren’t asked to deal with a speed delta in addition to the vertical movement of potholes, bumps, railroad tracks or the like. It makes sense: much less force acting on them.
To be fair, though, I live in Virginia, which has relatively decent roads, not in the upper Midwest or NE where the winters torture pavement. So, I’m not saying you people would be just fine ifin you learned to drive proper.
Some hellscapes flat out beat cars hard.
If you have 5 adults in your truck AND putting >750lb in your bed, maybe you shouldn’t consider a Mav? It sounds like you’re just digging for excuses.
I’m not, that’s the point. Personally I’m of the opinion that an automobile should be able to be filled with what would reasonably would be put into the automobile and not go over payload. In this case 5 fatter (lets say over 200 and under 250 lbs) Americans and a bed full of stuff for 5 people. In a Maverick you’d almost certainly go over payload.
If the Maverick was a plane that would be different due to issues with density altitude and such, however it’s an automobile.
THIS! CAFE. The maverick only exists because of CAFE standards. This USED to be a Tauras/500/etc… But, the lawmakers have pushed us in this new, shitty, direction.
Actually the Maverick only exists because Ford thought there was demand for a sawed off Bronco Sport. The Bronco Sport only exists because of CAFE, it would have been a Fusion otherwise.
Bronco Sport is already a light truck.
But, it wasn’t. It exists because of CAFE.
That would make sense if the Bronco Sport was not legally a light truck and they canceled the Bronco Sport in favor of the Maverick. But neither of those things are true.
What actually happened is they canceled the Fusion in favor of the Escape. The Escape exists solely because of CAFE. The Bronco Sport and Maverick are just variants of the Escape.
My sister loves her Maverick hybrid. It carries 5 people just fine and we’ve used to to move her into her new house and to tow a utility trailer with a lightweight trike. You don’t have to like it, but it is a perfectly cromulent truck.
Most pickups haul air most of the time, so I fail to see how it is any less valid of a choice than the typical brodozer or Ram 1500 company car.
https://imgur.com/a/UIqNeF2
I didn’t say it’s a bad truck, I just said it’s a worse truck than a Bronco Sport(or other crossovers), which could do all of those things at least as well as the Maverick.
The thing about a Maverick is that approximately zero Mavericks are replacing brodozers and Ram 1500s. They do not reduce the number of excessively large vehicles. Most Mavericks are replacing Nissan Rogues and Jettas, which I don’t think is a step in the right direction.
The Bronco Sport and other crossovers don’t carry 4×8 sheets as well as the Maverick. They also don’t carry tall plants as well as the Maverick. They also don’t carry dirty things like mulch, etc. as well as the Maverick.
I actually think a Bronco Sport would carry 4×8 sheets better than a Maverick considering more than half the sheet fits in the car. A crossover with the seats down has a much larger cargo area than a 4.5′ bed, which doesn’t fit a 4×8 sheet at all.
Tall plants?
I’ve never had issues hauling mulch specifically, I guess just because Im not into landscaping enough to haul more than a couple bags of mulch. Being dirty hasn’t stopped me from hauling lawnmowers and all manner of other nonsense in carpeted cargo areas. Heck, I have carpet in my pickup bed.
A Bronco Sport is much much better at hauling 10′ pipe than a Maverick with a 4.5′ bed.
I’m pretty sure the inside of a Bronco Sport won’t comfortably fit a sheet that is 4 feet wide. Very few SUV’s do. It’s the problem with adding all of the padding and niceties of a passenger vehicle. Also the tailgate is too narrow to put it in in the first place. So more than half the sheet won’t fit in the car, not without cutting the sheet up. Also, a 4.5′ bed means that more than half (4.5/8) fits in the bed of the Maverick. The whole point of the 4.5′ bed is to have the sheets stick past the tailgate, the tailgate is designed to be a support.
Here’s a bunch of dimensions for reference.
https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/bronco-sport-cargo-measurements-dimensions-length-width-height-more.1519/
Wow 47 1/2″ on the diagonal is a remarkably stupid dimension.
I (wrongly) assumed that if a 4×8 sheet fits in my Honda Accord(it does) then it would fit in a much larger car. I now dislike Bronco Sports significantly more than I did.
What year Accord? I never considered trying to fit a 4×8 sheet in a sedan. How does it go in? Can you get more than one in at a time?
It’s not a sedan, it’s a 92 Accord wagon. That’s the trick. It’s still not a large car, and it’s smaller inside than contemporary Camry, Taurus, Lumina, ect. wagons. But the hatch is four feet wide. It would not haul stiff 4×8 sheets, but it works rather well to flop Masonite over the backseat and into the rear foot well.
This is with the hatch closed, if you laid the seats down you could stick sheets out the back.
My sister’s truck replaced a rusted out Crown Vic. I’m completely in favor of getting more small cars out on the road, but you’re gonna have a hell of a time getting a refrigerator in the (admittedly spacious) trunk of a p71.
Fix the light truck CAFE loophole and companies will start building Rogues and Jettas again.
Start building Rogues and Jettas again? Those cars are currently in production, people could buy them, but they don’t. This particular example of a Maverick vs Rogue can be blamed exclusively on consumers, especially because the Maverick and the Rogue leverage the same light truck loophole.
I repeat: a bronco sport can haul a fridge as well as a Maverick.
Rogue and Jetta are both up ~50+ percent last quarter compared to the same period last year, so people do buy them.
That said I don’t think people having variety in vehicle choices is a bad thing. And comparing against a Rogue or Escape or the like, the Maverick is not a monstrous vehicle or tremendously thirsty or something. It’s longer sure, but that’s not different than your typical truck vs. SUV variant duo, still comparable to mid/large sedans.
You’re right, a Maverick isn’t actually bigger or heavier or thirstier than the Bronco Sport from whence it came. I don’t like it just because it’s less capable when it’s advertised and perceived as being more capable.
And less capability from the same size vehicle is always a bad thing.
I’d agree about there being maybe too much hype around the Maverick, but I’m not seeing what’s unequivocally less capable about the Maverick, just that a Bronco Sport can do things as well. You said there’s several things the latter can do better but I haven’t really seen them mentioned beyond how it could carry certain items. For sure, the Bronco Sport has dry, lockable cargo space, but at the same time the Maverick has hose-out cargo space. Sport has greater total cargo volume inside too of course with seats folded down, but Maverick can be equipped to tow much more. And a Maverick is thousands less to start, so even if it is less capable, you can spend more to get more.
Again, choice is good and all depends on your needs. Apparently there’s enough value in it to enough people that they’ve opted for it. YMMV.
Perhaps, but with the pricing and powertrains so different between the two, it’s not quite so 1:1 to say everyone buying a Maverick should just buy the Bronco Sport instead. A Maverick with the 2.0 Ecoboost 4-cyl starts 6-7k less than an Escape or Bronco Sport with the 1.5 Ecoboost 3-cyl. A moderately equipped Maverick 2.0 in the low $30s is a more interesting proosition to me than say, $40k for a Bronco Sport with the same powertrain.
Mavericks are too hard to come by to say it’s just people looking for the cheapest Ford, but the Bronco Sport still heavily outsells it and seeing sales increases, and Escapes have about the same sales volume as the Sport, so not like it’s tipped heavily toward Mavericks anyway.
(and all this assumes one is only looking in a Ford showroom too)
The people I know happily driving around in Mavericks with kids and dogs would disagree with you.
The people happily driving around in Mavericks with kids and dogs would disagree with my saying that a crossover/hatchback/wagon can do that at least as well as a Maverick?
Yeah because they bought a Maverick and not a Bronco Sport
And you’re certain that the only reason they bought a Maverick was because the Bronco Sport was very inadequate for their needs, but the Maverick wasn’t?
I guess that does make sense considering a dog and a child don’t fit in a Maverick.
Your original post: “I still fail to see a single thing a sawed off Bronco Sport can do that a regular Bronco Sport can’t.”
They are not you. One guy traded a Highlander for a Maverick, so yeah he wanted a truck. Can you drop a mountain bike in the bed of a Bronco Sport in two seconds? No, because there is no bed on a Bronco Sport.
I carry mountain bikes in a Honda Accord. The Bronco Sport can carry bikes easily, although I will concede it is slightly more difficult than the Maverick(assuming you already have your tailgate pad on. If you have to put the tailgate pad on then the Maverick is totally harder).
Dude I concede, the Maverick is an abomination and anyone who bought one is a fucking moron. My 2007 Acura TSX is a better truck!
My 2004 Odyssey is a better truck, car, minivan than any of the other mentioned vehicles above. 4×8? Got it. 6 passengers (plus driver)? No problem. Enclosed lockable space for both? Yep. Dump runs with a couple of tarps lining the floor? Got it. Pull the tarps and put the seats back in and it’s a 7 person hauler again? You bet.
I think it all depends on what your use case for the vehicle is. If you will be hauling a lot of dirty things–mulch, plants, dirt, bricks, muddy mountain bikes, things like that, the Maverick is your best bet. Same for larger or bulky items (furniture, appliances, etc). Sure the Bronco Sport could do a lot of that, but you might trash your interior, or just not have enough room for what you need to carry. If you have to have one car that does it all, the Maverick is a sound choice. But if you don’t find yourself needing a pickup bed because you don’t have to carry any of the aforementioned things, the Bronco Sport is for you.
I don’t think one is necessarily “better” than the other–it all depends on the personal use case. And this is coming from someone who has hauled hundreds of pounds of bricks, many bags of dirt and mulch, futons, bicycles, bales of straw, all in the back of a Sportwagen. It takes extra effort to keep the interior spotless (I’m a huge neat freak about my car), but you can do it. But if I was regularly hauling that kind of stuff, I’d consider something like the Maverick.
Yeah but if you’re hauling dirty things a lot, a real pickup makes a lot more sense. A Maverick is good for hauling mulch and straw and bricks occasionally. But if you’re only doing it occasionally many cars do that without the other compromises of a pickuped crossover.
The top of the line hybrid Maverick, if you’re gonna mpg, mpg all the way.
If you’re looking to get the AWD model, then you lose the mpg and may as well get a Taco or Frontier or what not.
Lose the mpg? Isn’t an AWD Maverick EPA rated at like 32mpg vs. like 18 for a Tacoma?
Nope, 25mpg combined for the AWD, 28mpg highway, C&D actually did get high 20s in their test, but again could get a Taco hybrid now with actual trucky truckness. The Maverick hybrid gets over 10mpg more on the highway. Taco hybrid still gets about 30mpg highway.
Yeah but 28 highway is still a lot more than like 22 for a Tacoma.
Where have you seen Tacoma hybrid MPGs beyond projected figures? AFAIK they’ve only released nonhybrid economy ratings, which reaches 19 city/24 highway/21 combined for the 4×4. I don’t expect the hybrid variant will improve the highway figure by 6mpg, that’s more than say, the RAV4 improves. They did at one point rumor the new Land Cruiser with similar powertrain at 27 mpg combined but that could vary for the Tacoma.
22 city/29 highway/25 combined for an AWD Maverick is pretty good for what it is; the hybrid is 42/33/37 respectively, so 4mpg better hwy rather than 10.
I agree the hybrid is really the big boon for the Mav, but the price difference can’t be ignored either to say just “go for a ‘real’ truck” – a Tacoma is thousands more to start even for just a 4×2.
Nicely equipped Maverick AWD are in the low 30s, Tacoma SR5 start in the low 30s, maybe they’ll be more with the hybrid next year, my main point was the biggest strength of the Maverick was high mpg, so if that’s what you’re going for, go all in. It’s FWD so a good set of snow tires is probably all that’s needed for most use.
Current Tacoma sure, but that’s about to change with the 2024 (what I was referencing re: thousands more) where even a base SR 4×2 starts at $32k, a couple grand more than a midlevel Maverick XLT AWD. The hybrid will be well over $40k, as the lowest trim where Toyota will offer it as an option is TRD Sport and Off-Road which are $40k to start.
I still agree with your main point on leaning into the mileage and going hybrid as that’s a much more unique value proposition, just I get how the price differential might keep someone out from going to a more conventional truck.