The Ford Maverick Is Outselling Every Midsize Truck But the Toyota Tacoma
Maverick deliveries through Q2 prove that bigger isn’t always better, even when it comes to pickups in America.
The Ford Maverick is a stellar truck. It also marks the return of the great American economy car because it’s affordable, great on gas, and has tons of functionality. Plus, it's small—because despite what you might hear, Americans really do want a smaller truck. It's basically the best budget option for suburbanites who want more utility than a crossover, but not quite the footprint of a big pickup.
Don't believe me? Well, the sales numbers back it up. 2022 was its first full year of production, and Ford managed to sell 74,370 Mavericks in that time. That wasn't enough to satisfy demand, either, because some dealers were marking these up so much that you could buy another at MSRP for the asking price. And this year, Ford is outselling nearly every truck in the larger midsize class.
Ford released its half-year sales numbers earlier this week. To no one's surprise, the Maverick is absolutely killing it. In fact, Ford managed to sell 42,499 examples of its tiny truck so far in 2023, an increase of nearly 10% versus this time last year.
While these numbers can’t touch F-Series sales, they're still impressive. The Maverick outsold nearly every midsize pickup—the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, Honda Ridgeline, Jeep Gladiator, and Nissan Frontier. It even appears to have perhaps cannibalized sales of the Ford Ranger as well. The only midsize truck that it didn't beat was the Toyota Tacoma, the segment’s longtime reigning king.
To make matters worse for OEMs, the midsize pickup market is way down overall. Outside of the Tacoma, the only truck in this class to actually sell more units than the year prior is the Honda Ridgeline. The total year-over-year deficit of all trucks in the red? 43,144 units, meaning that Maverick sales for the year so far have equated to nearly all midsize pickup sales lost year-over-year.
Ford is absolutely dominating the compact pickup category with the Maverick, mostly because its only direct competitor is the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which has sold around half as many units so far this year—20,050, to be precise. But there are competitors coming. A source recently confirmed to The Drive that the Ram Rampage compact pickup will make its way to U.S. soil, and GM could be working on its own (perhaps even electrified) competitor.
Americans want smaller trucks. Manufacturers are finally listening, and it's paying off. I'm not going to say the Maverick is Ford's greatest accomplishment in years, but it's pretty damn close. Plus, it won The Drive's Best Car Award in 2022.
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