We're getting our best look yet at the new Ford Maverick thanks to a photo of a still-camouflaged prototype that appears to be sitting alone on an assembly line. While it's still wearing some of its disguise and quite a few bits are missing, this is the first time we've seen such little covering on the baby pickup's nose.
Things have been quiet on the Maverick front for the past couple months, but today's leaked image (coming to us in a tip from mavericktruckclub.com) shows us a handful of things we haven't seen before. The prototypes spied on public roads thus far have worn camouflage over what appeared to be a Bronco Sport front end. We can see from this that the Maverick will get a visually distinct nose, despite likely riding on the same fundamental platform.
If there was any lingering question as to whether this would be part of the baby Bronco family, this pic offers convincing evidence that it won't. Instead, the look seems to split the difference between the Bronco Sport and the midsize, rear-wheel-drive Ranger. Ford has kept relatively mum about the Maverick project, but there are a few things we do know. For starters, it's going to ride on a unibody, front-wheel-drive platform. As you can see in the spy photo below of the Maverick's rear suspension, at least one variant is riding on a twist-beam style setup with no rear differential in sight.
It's difficult to say for certain from the angle of this photo, but it's possible that Ford will offer the Maverick with two different rear suspensions: one for base-model, front-wheel-drive variants and another designed to accommodate power going to the rear. The smart money would be on an all-wheel-drive system similar to what Ford offers in the Escape and Bronco Sport, likely without the latter's fancy (and optional) off-road setup, though we certainly have no reason to completely rule out the possibility of Ford offering a beefier version for those who need the extra capability.
We're calling the Maverick a 2022 model here, but that's far from a given. As is the case with the details of the trucklet itself, Ford has kept tight-lipped about the Maverick's production timeline. We expect the company is hoping to clear the hurdle of getting the Bronco Sport and larger Bronco into the hands of customers before pivoting to production logistics for its new baby pickup.
Ford Begins Deliveries Of Mustang Mach-E With Competitive Price, 300-Mile Range
Chris Katje,
One of the most anticipated electric vehicles has hit the market before the end of 2020 and could be a positive catalyst for a legacy automotive manufacturer heading into the new year.
What Happened: The first 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E delivery occurred in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday, according to InsideEVs.
Deliveries in other states should start soon, with InsideEVs reporting that Mach-E buyers have received emails about their vehicles shipping.
The 2021 Ford Bronco Sport is an exciting proposition, but it's easy to
misjudge. Unlike its bigger Bronco 2-door and 4-door siblings, Bronco
Sport sits on a modified platform shared with the Escape crossover. But
where the Escape
is tailor-made for urban cruising, the new Bronco Sport is skewed
towards outdoorsy owners who enjoy an active - dare I say
wilderness-embracing - lifestyle.
In fact, it only shares 70 to 80-percent of the Escape's underpinnings.
The Bronco Sport trims the wheelbase by 1.8-inches, compared to the
Escape, while measuring 173-inches long. That's almost the same length
as a Jeep Compass, making it a suitably small SUV despite how it looks
in photos.
It even shares the same engine choices with the Ford Escape. The Bronco
Sport Base, Big Bend, and Outer Banks series have a 1.5-liter
turbocharged three-cylinder engine EcoBoost engine, with 181 horsepower
and 190 lb.-ft of torque. This small engine packs quite a punch while
still getting 25 mpg city, 28 highway, and a combined average of 26. I
suspect this engine will be the lion's share of sales for most buyers.
It took spending half of my drive time pushing the 1.5-liter on a paved
road and then off-road, to instill an unexpected sense of confidence
that the Bronco Sport is, despite my fears otherwise, no Escape. Even
more surprising, I'm left with the suspicion that most of the time it'll
prove just as capable as the 2.0-liter engine.
That 2.0-liter turbo-4 is exclusively found in the Bronco Sport Badlands
and First Edition, where it offers 245 horsepower and 277 lb.-ft of
torque. Expect 21 mpg in the city, 26 on the highway highway, and 23
combined. Both engines are mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission;
unlike the manual option in the bigger Bronco, this is the Bronco
Sport's only gearbox.
Also exclusive to the Badlands and First Edition models are the
steering-mounted paddle shifters. The two upper trims get additional
coolers, too, for their transmission and the rear drivetrain. That, Ford
says, should ensure better performance during more intense off-road
sessions. Read More
Ford's 'super-secret' Megazilla V8 will be a monster motor
In the spirit of monster movies, Ford is working on a sequel to its "Godzilla" engine.
The appropriately nicknamed 7.3-liter V8 debuted on the 2020 F-Series Super Duty pickup but is also available for purchase as an a la carte crate engine for racing and custom car applications priced at $8,150.
In stock form, the iron-block, pushrod motor is rated at 430 hp and
475 lb-ft of torque, but tuners have already cranked it up to over 700
hp without even having to use a supercharger.
Ford is clearly
aware of the powerplant's potential - and the potential profits it can
make by selling an even more potent version of it.
Ford Performance Product Manager Mike Goodwin recently told the
Performance Racing Industry news outlet that his division is working on a
"super-secret project" it calls the "Megazilla" that will be more
powerful than the current mill.
He didn't provide any details about how Ford plans to achieve that,
but Fiat Chrysler's Mopar division has set a high bar for
large-displacement crate engines with its 1,000 hp supercharged 7.0-liter "Hellephant" HEMI V8.
In
the meantime, Goodwin said that Ford Performance will soon offer its
own control pack for the Godzilla V8 that will make it easy to get
running in virtually any vehicle it fits in, including a Bronco or a
shopping cart. Read More
Ford Names Its Clever Electrical Vehicle Architecture
The new Mustang Mach-E crossover will be one of the first recipients of the technology.
Vehicle control interfaces have changed dramatically over
the last couple of years, with giant touchscreens taking the place of
physical controls. Behind those screens, there is more computing power
than most of us are aware of, and the next major evolution is the
'connected' vehicle. Like your computer or smartphone, your car can now
be upgraded wirelessly. Ford has employed a new electric vehicle
architecture on upcoming models like the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 pickup to make this possible but up until now, we didn't know what the system was called.
Ali
Jamoul, North America Engineering Director at Ford, shared at a media
event that Ford has dubbed it the Fully Networked Vehicle, otherwise
known as FNV.
Different versions of FNV will be utilized depending on the vehicle, but
the new Mustang Mach-E and F-150 will be the first products to use it.
The "fully networked" part of the name makes sense since over-the-air
(OTA) updates will be possible with FNV. Months ago, Ford confirmed that
the Mach-E's OTA updates
will ensure that the crossover can be continually improved during its
lifetime, with many of these upgrades - be it infotainment or
performance-related - taking place while the vehicle is safely parked at
home. When a new update becomes available, owners will be notified via
their smartphones. Read more
Revealed! Ford Nails Mustang Mach-E EPA Rating
Jay Traugott | Nov. 22, 2020, CarBuzz
The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E has been in the news a lot lately
and this isn't going to change for the foreseeable future. This
all-electric, performance-focused SUV is a big deal for the Blue Oval as
it's about to embark on a major EV product surge, such as the
battery-powered F-150 due in 2022. But one of the big questions we've
still have regarding the Mach-E is its EPA rated driving range. The
official report is expected at any time.
But today, a member of
the Mach-E Forum has posted an image of their soon to arrive EV's window
sticker that reveals the government agency's official rating of the
all-wheel-drive extended range Premium trim.
As you can see, it's officially rated at 270 miles, the
exact figure Ford says it targeted all along. This is also good news for
other targets across the Mach-E lineup. Those trims include the base
Select, followed by the Premium, California Route 1, First Edition, and
GT. To compare, the Tesla Model Y AWD Long Range is rated at 326 miles on a single charge, and 303 miles for the Performance version.
The
Mach-E will launch with two battery pack sizes, 68 kWh and 88 kWh for
Extended Range versions. Those looking to hopefully achieve the maximum
range possible should probably opt for the Premium RWD which Ford
believes will hit 300 miles. Read More
It looks like the 2021 Ford F-150
PowerBoost hybrid may be pulling double duty as both the most powerful
and most fuel-efficient model in the lineup when it hits showrooms this
year. Read More
The Ford F-150 is due to add an electric powertrain to
its options sheet for the 2022 model year. Ford execs this week said the
electric F-150 will have more torque and horsepower of any F-150 in
company history, and the fastest 0-60 time, meaning 5 seconds or less to
60 mph. Learn More
Ford Mustang Mach-E Electric Car Sees First Firm Dates: Tesla Model Y Rival Revs Up Production
In an email, a Ford spokesperson told me that "production date emails" went out on Thursday.
The Mustang Mach-E is one of the most anticipated new electric cars
and has one of the best chances of stealing some thunder from Tesla's
popular Model Y. Both cars are classified as crossover SUVs, aka, a
compact SUV.
Ford has previously stated that the 2021 Mustang Mach-E is slated to be available by late this year though volume availability isn't expected until 2021.
While we were awaiting the reveal of the all-new 2021 Ford Bronco, many rumors swirled regarding what, exactly, we could expect. One such rumor was that the new Ford Bronco would feature a foldable windshield, just like its established rival, the Jeep Wrangler. But when the Bronco was revealed, we quickly realized that the foldable windshield did not make it to production. And now, we know why.
"We looked at that. In the original vehicle, you could do that," Paul Wraith, Bronco chief designer, told Ford Authority
executive editor, Alex Luft, in a recent interview. "But it brings with
it some problems. It does provide the user with a fairly rare event,
since you start getting into things like flat windshields, which is a
compromised construction around pillars."
"So what we actually really wanted to do is to provide a very open-air
feel, thin out the pillars as much as we could, which is why we have the
airbags in the sport tubes," Wraith explained. "That provided people a
very safe envelope for people to sit within. So when you look at
tradeoffs, we think we made the right one - but it's very safe, very
open, and a good experience - and I think we made the right tradeoff."
The sport tubes Wraith is referring to is what Ford calls the roof
construction that runs from the windshield to the trunk. It's clear that
safety was at the forefront of the Bronco's design, particularly in the
event of a rollover accident, which is more common with high-riding,
shorter-wheelbase vehicles.
Those that seek an open-air experience will still be able to remove the
roof and doors rather easily. In the four-door 2021 Ford Bronco, those
doors can also be stored in the rear cargo area, which is something the
Jeep Wrangler does not accommodate. And its top can also be removed in
sections by one person, while the Wrangler requires a bit of heavy
lifting and preferably a partner.
Our Self-Driving Business in Austin, One Year Later
By Kathleen Baireuther, Austin Market Manager, Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC
We stood in Austin one year ago
with optimism for the journey ahead - launching a self-driving service
that can be a part of the city's mobility ecosystem. Since then, we have
been tackling the complex challenge of building a self-driving service,
bringing together all of the intricate pieces to make it a reality.
Although 2020 has been a challenging year, we've continued to build our
business locally and we look forward to advancing our mission in the
year to come.
One year of building our business in Austin: In the first year since our launch announcement in Austin, we have made significant strides, including:
· Opened an autonomous vehicle terminal.
Located near downtown in East Austin, we opened a terminal that serves
as the base for our self-driving vehicle test fleet. This was an
important step forward as it allows us to manage our vehicle fleet.
· Invested in a command center.Ford
made a real estate investment in a site near Austin-Bergstrom Airport
that will eventually be home to a command center - the epicenter of
Ford's local self-driving business and daily operations. It will house
local customer relations, business development, research, safety
evaluations and testing operations.
· Built our fleet operations expertise.Fleet
operations that help ensure our vehicles are utilized, deep cleaned and
maintained are a key part of creating a commercial service that people
value - and that's profitable. We recently completed the first phase of a
fleet operations pilot in Austin that will be utilized for our business
in Austin and Ford's broader strategy.
· Continued focus on safety.We
have engaged in an ongoing dialogue about our operations with first
responders in the city to ensure we are creating a safe environment.
2020 Ford Explorer Earns Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick+, the Institute's Highest Honor
9/21/2020 | Ford Media Center
The 2020 Ford Explorer has earned the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety's Top Safety Pick+ for vehicles built after May 2020. Top
Safety Pick+ is the Institute's highest safety award.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick+ award
criteria includes six crashworthiness tests as well as ensuring minimum
"acceptable or good" headlight ratings on vehicles that must come
equipped with advanced driver-assist technologies that can help avoid or
reduce a collision.
"Explorer is America's all-time best-selling SUV and with that, our
customers expect it to take their family on adventures everywhere - from
school to our national parks," said Lee Newcombe, Explorer marketing
manager, Ford Motor Company. "This honor from the Insurance Institute
for Highway Safety reaffirms the obsession of our entire team who work
tirelessly toward the goal of helping our customers arrive at these
places and everywhere else in between."
As part of Ford's commitment to advanced technologies, Explorer features the Ford Co-Pilot360™
suite of driver-assist features as standard equipment. The Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety recognized Explorer in both
vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. Explorer aced
all six areas of the Institute's crashworthiness testing and is
recognized for the lighting capabilities of its headlamps across all
series levels.
The full suite of Ford Co-Pilot360 driver-assist features on the 2020 Ford Explorer include:
Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking including:
Ford Promises Its Electric Truck Will Crush Your Current F-150
Alex Lauer, 9/18/2, insidehook.com
Buying an electric vehicle in the U.S. up till now has been about
compromise. They usually cost more than their gas counterparts, but
they're more environmentally friendly. They have instant torque, but
towing depletes the battery quickly. All this is fine for car owners,
but for trucks, especially for people who actually use their pickups for
work? The compromises are out of the question.
Not only does
Ford not want to compromise on its upcoming all-electric F-150 pickup,
but in new announcements this week, the Blue Oval promised that the EV
truck will absolutely crush older models in terms of performance,
operational cost and even cargo.
"The electric F-150, which is
undergoing tens of thousands of hours of torture testing and targeting
millions of simulated, laboratory and real world test miles, will be
more powerful than any F-150 available today," the automaker said in a
press release.
Specifically, Ford says it will offer "more
horsepower and torque," "the fastest acceleration" and, most importantly
for EV skeptics concerned about hauling, "the ability to tow heavy
trailers." But power isn't the only incentive the company is using to
entice potential converts; the electric F-150 will also feature a "giant
front trunk" (colloquially known as a "frunk") thanks to the
reconfigured powertrain in EVs, and it will reportedly cost 40% less
than traditional F-150s in terms of the "lifetime total cost of
operation," which includes things like fuel, oil and maintenance.
The
pledge came alongside a few large-scale manufacturing announcements.
First, Ford patted itself on the back for starting production on the latest F-150,
but more importantly it broke ground on the Rouge Electric Vehicle
Center, a new factory in the company's Dearborn, Michigan industrial
park where the electric F-150 will begin production supposedly by
mid-2022 for a 2023 model.
All of this, it should be said, isn't
particularly surprising. Of course Ford needs to offer something
undeniable to get Americans who have driven traditional F-150s their
entire lives, and families who have driven them across generations, to
consider going electric. One thing we didn't expect this early is to get
a preview of what the design will look like.
The preview image
of the front-end [pictured above], which appears to feature a huge LED
bar running along the top of the grille and around the headlights, shows
up for just a split second in the middle of the half-hour Rouge Center presentation, which isn't particularly exciting for people outside the industry.
If
Ford has piqued your interest, you'd be better off watching this video
of the prototype testing, which still has the old-school look, but some
newfound power:
Ford Ranger Tremor hopes to dominate midsize truck market
Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press, 9/14/2020
America will see an all-new 2021 Ranger Tremor
off-road package that enhances the look and feel of the midsize
pickup as Ford steps up its fight against the Toyota Tacoma. This is the
latest effort to win over drivers who enjoy using their truck both
off-roading and commuting to work.
"Our target
customer wants to have adventures, be free and get away from the daily
grind but also needs to carry gear, supplies and passengers," said Chad
Callander, marketing manager for the past five years for Ford Ranger.
Sales tend to be higher on the coasts, in larger
metropolitan areas, with 15%-20% in California. Los Angeles is a huge
market. But Seattle, San Diego, Dallas, Houston, Boston and New York
also are hot spots for sales of the truck, which is smaller than the
best-selling F-150.
"Anywhere it's easier to maneuver the vehicle into a parking space," Callander said.
In the second three months of 2019, buyers purchased:
68,683 Toyota Tacomas
31,669 Chevy Colorados
20,880 Ford Rangers
In the second three months of this year, consumers bought:
51,063 Toyota Tacomas
25,008 Ford Rangers
19,843 Chevy Colorados
Ranger rose from 10.2% of its market segment during the first six months of 2019 to 17% of the market a year later.
2021 Ford Bronco: Why It Has Independent Front Suspension
Angel Sergeev, 8/25/2020, motor1.com
Because no death wobble.
The solid front axle is one of the most important selling points of the Jeep Wrangler
and it was even highlighted for the automaker's salespeople in a
document that recently leaked to the web. There's no denying that this
suspension is good for off-road use but Ford's engineers decided against
it and went with an independent front axle for the new Bronco instead. Here's why.
In a recent interview with MuscleCarsAndTrucks,
engineers from the Bronco R&D team gave more details about the
independent front suspension of the revived Bronco. If we have to
summarize their words, the decision for an IFS layout is mainly linked
with the vehicle's behavior on paved roads. But we'll let them explain
it in their own words.
"For IFS we make [the Bronco's] manners much better on-road," Bronco
Chief Engineer Eric Loeffler told the online publication. "Therefore we
get the best of both worlds… in Bronco we've been able to balance the
performance, especially at higher speeds where our competitors don't.
And yet on-road the vehicle is just so much more enjoyable to drive."
Off-road fans out there are probably going to disagree - isn't the new
Bronco designed to go in the mud most of the time, after all? The solid
axle versus independent suspension debate won't settle down anytime soon
but Ford might have an answer to its critics for choosing an IFS setup
for the Bronco.
"If you want to be a high-speed off-road desert runner, you
definitely want an IFS… there is an element to the suspension technology
that we selected is the right one for what we're targeting," Ford's
Global Program Manager Jeff Seaman added.
What's "a high-speed off-road desert runner" you might ask? Well, we
don't know exactly but it sounds like the engineers wanted to make sure
the new Bronco is immuned to the so-called death wobble phenomenon which
causes the steering wheel to violently shake after hitting a road bump
at higher speeds.
A 30-year-old New Hampshire native has driven across Route 66 in the height of summer in a 1929 Model A, taking in the famous sights in just nine days while rarely breaking 45mph. Ryan Tebo - who had never been beyond Pennsylvania - spent several days driving from New Hampshire and arrived at the route's eastern branch starting point in Chicago, Illinois on August 13 and made it to Santa Monica, California in the three-speed manual by August 22. Despite the sweltering 115 degrees Fahrenheit heat in places, and the coronavirus pandemic, Tebo documented his 3,600-mile-journey on social media and found it was the ideal time to take a road trip in the Ford motor which has no electronic fuel injection and drum brakes.
Meet the latest
in a legacy that can't be broken. Engineered to bring you and your crew
closer to the wild, each of the four available models comes standard
with 4x4, a Terrain Management System™ with G.O.A.T. Modes™
(Goes Over Any Type of Terrain) and an adventure-ready build. So gather
your crew, pack your gear and embark on your adventure - Bronco Sport
has got it from here. Learn More
First-Ever Ford GT Heritage Edition to Celebrate Storied '66 Daytona Win, Plus 2021 Studio Collection Graphics Package
Jay Traugott | Nov. 22, 2020, CarBuzz
It looks like the 
9/21/2020 | Ford Media Center 
Alex Lauer, 9/18/2, insidehook.com
Find Your Wild with the All-New Bronco Sport