Maybe Ford never intended to produce and sell a ton of Mavericks?

[GyroRon]

Just got to thinking about this... If you have noticed, almost all mainstream car makers have gone to pushing trucks and SUV's. The American makes have all but almost completely dropped making sedans and small " cheap " cars.

They say that sedans and cheap little cars just didn't have much demand, and I am sure there is some truth to that, as most people would prefer to have a more useful SUV platform over a typical sedan layout.

But I believe the car makers see that the big money is in making trucks and SUV's. There is crazy high profits in F150's and Superduty's... Same with nearly all SUV's. Not so much in small cheap sedans and hatchbacks.

So I got to thinking.... There is no way Ford didn't know the maverick would be popular. Why wouldn't it be popular? It offers seating for 5 like any sedan or smaller SUV, and coupled with a hybrid drivetrain it would offer MPG ratings that are only beaten by a handful of other hybrids, and especially in the XL and XLT trims... it is very affordably priced.

Perhaps they knew all along it would be very popular, but the idea was to just simply get people interested and into a Ford dealer... Where they could be possibly tempted into something else like a Ranger or F150 or Explorer, where Ford can make a healthy profit.

Otherwise if this isn't the case, why have they not tooled up for more production? The F150 has been the number 1 best selling vehicle in the country for a long long time, and even through covid, the dealers always had at least a few new F150's on the lot. Now a days there is plenty of new F150's on the lot to choose from, some with rebates and incentives. No one would need to order a F150 and wait months or even a year for it to possibly come in. If Ford can build that many F150's, there is no reason they couldn't build Mavericks at the rate needed to meet demand.

I called my dealer the other day to see if my salesman knew anything I didn't know about the status of my order... He said they have gotten about 20 mavericks in out of a little over 300 orders placed in Sept. At this rate, there is no way all 300+ orders get fulfilled. And I don't think Ford cares. I think they figure we will decide to " upgrade " to a F150 or ranger or decide instead to get a escape or bronco sport or explorer or some other more profitable vehicle.

Sponsored

 

[bwil415]

I think it has more to do with being a new vehicle sharing a platform and assembly line with Bronco Sport. They may have not expected such demand at the time that they made the decision to produce it on the same line in Mexico, and so it was lower risk to produce the Maverick (with low MSRP and profit margins compared to the F150). They could have decided to add another line or another plant in Mexico, and maybe they will in the future if demand remains.

 

[commadorebob]

We are still feeling the effects of essentially shutting down the global economy for two years. It will take the better part of a decade to recover from that. Ford wants to sell as many vehicles as they can. People in the market for a Maverick are not in the market for an F-150, and Ford knows that. So, if they can produce and sell 1,000,000 Mavericks, they will in a heartbeat.

That said, I still think Maverick is the gateway drug to F-150. Having been driving an F-150 as a loaner for the last three weeks, it'll be hard to go back to the vehicle I actually purchased...

 

[Old Ranchero]

Stated mission of Maverick was to serve as the affordable, efficient entry level vehicle replacing all their discontinued passenger cars AND filling the void created by abandonment of compact segment in NA market a decade earlier. There was nobody else proving this idea would work they could benchmark or follow as example for confidence. Some people refuse to believe it, but the shutdown of global economies blew up normal process of designing, testing, certifying, ramping up mass production and delivering vehicles. And there's an unseen lag time from better conditions and economic outlook media reporting to when manufacturers actually see improvement of increasing, reliable deliveries to their factories supporting production ramp up.

Ford was already on shaky ground financially and the risk they took going ahead with this vehicle under global conditions not allowing precise internal forecasting on every level can not be overstated IMO.

 

[gte105u]

I've driven F150s and much prefer the Maverick. I just returned a Ram 2500 rental, and hated it. Much prefer my Maverick.

It is about diversification of the truck market. Hit different price points, options, and needs. Ford wants to sell as many of them as they can. Would they prefer to sell more expensive vehicles first... Sure. But they know they are losing customers if they don't have diversity.

The issue isn't tooling up. The issue isn't lack of desire to sell. The issue is supply chain constraints. I'm in construction. I've had clients try to give me similar spiels like I don't want to get the project done. It costs us money to drag things out. If the parts were there I'd build the project, and Ford would build the trucks. It doesn't benefit them in any way to have unfulfilled orders at the end of the year. It also doesn't help them to out build the demand and ramp down, but they are a long ways from needing to worry about that.

 

[jsus]

You can't say that!

 

[Automate]

So far, the parts supply chain and sharing production on the same line as the Bronco Sport has held the Maverick back. They would not add a 3rd shift to the Mexico plant if they were trying to limit Mav production. Seems as though Ford is starting to get a hold of their supply chain issues.

 

[ejouie]

There was a reason that the compact segment was abandoned in 2013. Poor sales and CAFE regulations.

10 years later, things have changed. Power output of compact engines has increased along with fuel economy. That helps address the CAFE issue.

Also, there was a generational shift since then. Boomers tend to prefer full size trucks while gen Z likes small sedans. That addresses the sales concern.
[Source: These Are the Most Popular Vehicles for Each Generation (2021) (insurify.com)]

Now the market for a compact truck has returned when combined with now mature fuel saving tech.

However, this was unproven. Nobody was still making a true compact pickup. Ford hedged their bets by basing it off of a more surefire model (Bronco Sport) thus lowering development and production costs. This also explains their production plan in regard to the balance between Bronco Sports and Mavericks.

The Maverick has proven the market research correct. Ford is adding a 3rd shift to the plant to increase capacity accordingly.

 

[bc22]

I've noticed some people on the forum give up and buy a more expensive vehicle from Ford. Personally, if they don't deliver my Maverick, I'll be moving on to a new brand. There isn't anything comparable (hybrid wise) at Ford.

 

[Greg_in_GA]

Even if Ford thought it would be a big hit and there were no supply constraints they would be cautious about spending a billion dollars(or whatever it might actually cost) to set up a factory to make 500k or a million new trucks a year for a new model. Even commiting to building 100k a year cost a lot and was a big bet.

With a new model they likely also wanted to make a modest number each year while they get the kinks worked out. If they had made 10 times as many then the recall situation would have been 10 times as bad.

If there is a major refresh of the Maverick in 2025 or 2026 that would be a good time to ramp up production and that will be about the time that Blue Oval City gets up to speed.

 

[Sirk]

The Maverick, specifically the hybrid Maverick, was developed by Ford for two reasons:
First to address a segment of the market that it abandoned when it stopped producing small, inexpensive passenger vehicles. Its second and probably more important (to Ford) reason was to make space in its CAFE numbers for F150 and Super Duty sales. Ford makes relatively little on Maverick, probably nothing in the case of hybrid XL models. Obviously, big truck are where the money is for the company.

I suspect Ford's original plan was to sell only as many hybrids as was required to meet their CAFE numbers for their other more profitable models. I believe they were caught completely off guard by the demand for the Maverick, especially the hybrid. I also suspect they will continue to increase the Maverick prices going forward. The question is, how will they manage the demand with a vehicle they don't really make anything on?

A friend of mine who has been in the car business for a long time commented to me over a year ago that Ford under priced the Maverick by $5,000. He didn't know why the made that choice, but I tend to agree with his assessment.

 

[CTYankee]

Here's an article on the current market. It's not sustainable and Ford knows that. The Maverick gives them a play in the sub-25K market and an affordable play in the well-optioned tier.

https://thehill.com/business/3934301-new-cars-have-become-luxury-items/

I can't see myself ever paying more for a car than I paid for my house, even after 43 years of inflation and market appreciation, It's just a psychological threshold I can't cross. I don't understand how people can deal with car payments that rival mortgages and rent payments.

 

[Scott Asheville]

I'm loving this thread. It was intelligently started and contains mostly well reasoned comments. It's proof that if you leave out the trigger phrases "Santa Cruz", "Battery Electric Vehicle", and a few more I won't list, you can actually have a meaningful discussion on MTC.

This discussion reminds me of a concept in the sci fi series, "The Expanse". They talk about "the Churn", which is a period in which all the established norms of existence are upended for new ones.

I think the auto industry is in "the Churn" right now. Think about what is going on. OEMs are betting the company on transition from ICE to BEV, whether or not their customer base is ready. The world is still working through massive supply shortages. The OEMs are trying to save thousands per vehicle by transforming from massive on-lot inventories to mostly empty lots and customers ordering vehicles. Government continues to pile on endless regulations, safety and environmental and otherwise. Oh, and us fickle customers are doing what fickle customers have always done - exactly the opposite of what the product planners expected.

That Ford laid on a second shift in Hermosillo shows that they want to sell more Escapes and Bronco Sports and Mavericks. In what trims is the big question. That they added a second shift and not a new line or a new plant speaks volumes. It suggests that Ford will cost-effectively ride the Maverick and Bronco Sport wave as far as they can. But the key phrase is "cost effectively".

oops - I just realized I did exactly what I said devolves threads. I mentioned electrics. Doh!

 

[AutobahnSHO]

2023 Corolla hybrid starts at $22,800 but supposedly gets better mpg.
Wild market out there when people can cross shop that and a Ford pickup!

 

[crunchie_frog]

When the Maverick was conceptualized and put forward as a new vehicle for Ford to manufacture and sell, the palpable fear of very high gas prices was not as it is today. High gas prices (and good intentions relative to carbon emmissions) are definitely driving demand of the hybrid and a good bit of the ecoboost demand. I think that unexpected change in gas prices and the outlook of those prices allowed Ford to be out of sync with the market demand. They will figure out how to make more Mavericks as long as they can make money with them.

Sponsored