The Ford Bronco Sport Spinoff Sure Sounds like a Compact Pickup

By Wesley Wren - Jul 20, 2020

FORD

FORD

The Ford Bronco Sport Maverick (or just Maverick) might be the name of Ford's new small pickup.

With the sheets finally peeled away from Ford’s new Bronco Sport, there are other prospective products from Ford starting to get some more traction. Remember the Maverick pickup we speculated about a few months back? Well, now it’s looking like the upcoming compact pickup could be based on the Ford Bronco Sport.

According to Manoli Katakis at Muscle Cars and Trucks, Ford teased a future product dubbed “whitespace” during a presentation with Bank of America. While the unnamed product was simply a place holder that’s shaped like a crossover that’s covered by a sheet, it will likely be part of the upcoming Bronco and Bronco Sport variants. We noted that Bronco could be spun off into its own sub-brand. Likely bearing a “Maverick” badge, a front-wheel-drive-based truck aligned with Bronco Sport seems like an obvious move for Ford.

This screen grab is from the Ford "fireside chat" with Bank of America. FORD

This screen grab is from the Ford "fireside chat" with Bank of America.

FORD

With midsize and full-size trucks growing every generation, fans of compact pickups of yore are left out of the mix. The Honda Ridgeline and upcoming Hyundai Santa Cruz are looking to tackle that space, but Ford apparently sees a space where it can serve an underserved market. At least, that was the case in January when Ford COO Jim Farley confirmed that the company was working on a compact pickup.

Using the springboard of the Bronco Sport only makes more sense for the compact truck. It builds on the public awareness around the Bronco name and helps dispel some stigma around a unibody compact pickup. Basing the upcoming pickup on the Bronco Sport also helps save Ford time and money when it comes to manufacturing. That would also help Ford hit the expected 2021 target for revealing the new, FWD-based compact truck.

As with all speculation, especially during trying economic times, the Bronco Sport’s pickup truck cousin could get shelved like television spinoffs from the 1980s. Though, with Ford knowing how much money there is in the pickup truck market, we would bet on seeing a compact Blue Oval pickup before the end of 2021.

SOURCE: Autoweek

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The Ford Bronco Sport Spinoff Sure Sounds like a Compact Pickup