Spied: Maverick Refresh Lobo ST Street Truck Reveals New Vertical Grille Design & 13" Infotainment Screen

[Skandren]

We just got our first look at a revealing new Maverick Lobo performance street truck prototype showing off a completely new grille design with a clean vertical slat arrangement in addition to a new infotainment screen interior upgrade.

All New Grille Design Finally Shows Itself
These shots not only show us what promises to be a new Maverick trim, it gives us our first uncovered look at its new grille design—our first such look at one of the updated Maverick prototypes. With the camo mesh removed from the grille-opening, we see a completely new take on the face of the Maverick. From this test truck, it appears that the new street truck will have the Ford oval floating amid a sea vertical grille slats that bend forward at the bottom, reaching out to its revised front bumper. It’s a complete departure from anything currently available in the Maverick lineup.

We know this is the new street truck trim- rumored to be called Lobo, based on Ford trademark filings—thanks to its new, larger wheel-and-tire package. Instead of the 18-inch wheels that top the current Maverick range, this new model gets a chunky new design, sized at 19-inches—wrapped by 225/55R19 Goodyear Wrangler Territory HT tires. Whether this street truck—which could also conceivably get an ST designation—gets more power, is currently unknown.

13.2-inch Infotainment Screen
We also have the only look at the key element of the Maverick’s revised interior design: It’s new-and-improved infotainment screen. It looks like the Maverick will be getting the same screen upgrade that’s coming on the similarly facelifted Bronco Sport—the 13.2-inch landscape-oriented screen that’s also found in the base Mustang and the upper-level trims of the Ford Escape. It’s a big step up from the humble eight-inch screen that currently resides in all Mavericks—regardless of the trim level.

The Maverick looks slated to get a thorough going-over, in order to keep it atop the compact pickup market. Currently the Hyundai Santa Cruz is its only competition, but there are rumblings that Toyota has eyes on the burgeoning segment—with evidence of benchmark tests of the Ford and Hyundai. With that in mind, Ford is smart to keep the hammer down to keep a strong hold on the top spot.

Well that's fugly

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[bgn]

That grille is a nightmare. Hopefully that's not the final one, but it feels a bit too late to be running non-production bits on a test mule?

 

[eddo]

Actually, I think we have it all wrong.. The Lincoln Blackwood lives on...

Haha this is what I was thinking, I'm like holy s*** they're bringing back a Lincoln truck

 

[White Thunder]

the bigger screen would be nice, can‘T say much for th grill. I know i won’t have one.

 

[ronnieb1958]

Well that's fugly

Hope they get rid of that dial shifter!

 

[CurtisB]

We just got our first look at a revealing new Maverick Lobo performance street truck prototype showing off a completely new grille design with a clean vertical slat arrangement in addition to a new infotainment screen interior upgrade.

All New Grille Design Finally Shows Itself
These shots not only show us what promises to be a new Maverick trim, it gives us our first uncovered look at its new grille design—our first such look at one of the updated Maverick prototypes. With the camo mesh removed from the grille-opening, we see a completely new take on the face of the Maverick. From this test truck, it appears that the new street truck will have the Ford oval floating amid a sea vertical grille slats that bend forward at the bottom, reaching out to its revised front bumper. It’s a complete departure from anything currently available in the Maverick lineup.

We know this is the new street truck trim- rumored to be called Lobo, based on Ford trademark filings—thanks to its new, larger wheel-and-tire package. Instead of the 18-inch wheels that top the current Maverick range, this new model gets a chunky new design, sized at 19-inches—wrapped by 225/55R19 Goodyear Wrangler Territory HT tires. Whether this street truck—which could also conceivably get an ST designation—gets more power, is currently unknown.

13.2-inch Infotainment Screen
We also have the only look at the key element of the Maverick’s revised interior design: It’s new-and-improved infotainment screen. It looks like the Maverick will be getting the same screen upgrade that’s coming on the similarly facelifted Bronco Sport—the 13.2-inch landscape-oriented screen that’s also found in the base Mustang and the upper-level trims of the Ford Escape. It’s a big step up from the humble eight-inch screen that currently resides in all Mavericks—regardless of the trim level.

The Maverick looks slated to get a thorough going-over, in order to keep it atop the compact pickup market. Currently the Hyundai Santa Cruz is its only competition, but there are rumblings that Toyota has eyes on the burgeoning segment—with evidence of benchmark tests of the Ford and Hyundai. With that in mind, Ford is smart to keep the hammer down to keep a strong hold on the top spot.

Guys!! THIS IS TOTALLY WHAT I SAW WHEN I POSTED ABOUT THIS 2 WEEKS AGO. WHEN I SAW THE TRUCK, THE FRONT END WASN'T COVERED BUT THE REAR AREA WAS. AS HE PASSED ME, I SAW THIS HEAD UNIT INSIDE. THIS IS EXACTLY THE INSIDE I SAW. WE WERE BOTH GOING 70MPH SO I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO GET OUT MY CELL PHONE AND TRY TO SNAP A PHOTO. I TOLD YOU ALL I SAW THIS AND YOU KEPT SAYING I DIDN'T. I WAS THERE, YOU WEREN'T. THIS IS THE TRUCK I SAW, IN CALIFORNIA, TWO WEEKS AGO, ON THE 5FWY NEAR MISSION VIEJO/IRVINE AREA HEADING SOUTH.

 

[Signguy]

I wonder what the price point will be. I paid 27K for my fully loaded XLT less than 2 years ago....that was very attractive......at the time....

 

[shadow76]

a

That 13.2" screen is tasty but the $40k price tag to get it likely won't be....

Who needs a 13.2” screen in a vehicle. Even the current 8” screen is overkill.

 

[eddo]

Having owned 3 Mavericks here is my opinion. i don’t care about the refresh but bigger info screen is nice. They need to 1. Offer hybrid with AWD. 2. Offer keypad on drivers door again. 3. Offer more colors

Oh the keypad on the doors is very missed, I used it all the time on our previous vehicle

 

[Bwicka]

This may be Lobo only version , to stay south of the border .
The f150 lobo has always had slightly different grill badging and color coordination different from us side.
Screen will flow over though. And obviously a steering wheel change ?
Never seen a steering wheel center disguised before on any spy shots?

 

[hurrah]

Not impressed with the "new" grill but then its not an issue with me-kind of like changing wheels and headlights and calling it a refresh! As long as they don't go wonk like Lexus and Toyota which have horid looking grills. I'm more than happy with the size of the current screen-don't need a dash full of screen and I'll be really really unhappy if they remove the physical HVAC knobs. Like it actually matters to me as my 23 Tremor is 15 months old has 4500 miles and at the current rate and my age I'll be 99 when it hits 50K

 

[BoskoPColtrane]

The new grille looks horrid: it can't be a production piece.

And while the new screen is attractive, *why* is Ford rushing towards touch screen HVAC functions, while the rest of the industry is trending back to knobs?

You can't text and drive, but it makes sense to glance at a screen to adjust HVAC functions.

What would be the difference if it’s on the screen or controlled by knobs? You are still taking your eyes off the road.

 

[Darnon]

also liking the placement of the radar cruise thingy…. Looks terrible in currently Lariats
I wonder if that can be moved without too much trouble

I don't know if that's necessarily the ACC radar; mounted that low would make it even worse for slush or susceptible to damage. Could be a change to the grille shutter; separate actuation for the intercooler?

Rather conspicuously there are also the two front ultrasonic sensors in the lower grille corners.

 

[eddo]

I'm still waiting for a cabin passthrough into the bed, that could be very useful for me

 

[TacRunner]

Im not sure what I think about the grill. gives off a kind of older lincoln feel...yet seeing most of the ford line has similarities/styling cues across the vehicles...this seems to completely stand apart from any vehicle ford has...i could be wrong, but any other ford vehicle/trim have a mostly/all vertical grill to it?

I am totally agreeing with you and it got me thinking about “what if‘s” - what if this is a new addition to the Lincoln line-up?

As the way, I can see it there is only two working, prevailing theories,

one… This is a new lineup addition to the Lincoln lineup, where they bring in a maverick model, hence why they have all the new additional things like the upgraded entertainment, and the new cameras on the side mirrors, power moonroof and relocation of the grill sensor.

Or two… They’re starting a new refresh in all of the Ford model to have this similar type of grill. It’s hard for me to think that as much as Ford tries to stay similar across lines of their vehicles that this would be the start of a new grilles in their lineup.

Either the “good idea fairy” got his time in the sunbeam or ford is total breaking away from giving the customer what they like.

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