It's been a minute since we last talked about the popular Ford Maverick unibody compact pickup truck. But it's all coming back to us now because at the New York Auto Show later this month, its only rival, the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz, is getting a much-needed refresh.
Of course, as with many Blue Ovals, the last time we mentioned a Ford Maverick in our newsreel was due to a recall involving a potential fuel tank open pinch joint and one regarding Maverick Hybrid's instrument cluster software issue. On the other hand, most likely, when the first quarter sales tally comes in, the compact Blue Oval pickup truck will reassert its massive dominance over the only other representative of the sector in the US automotive market – Hyundai's Santa Cruz.
The latter is getting a much-needed refresh and will premiere at the 2024 New York Auto Show, which kicks off on March 27 with the first press day (March 29-April 7 is general audience access) alongside its facelifted Tucson SUV sibling. Naturally, Ford is going to wait a little to see what's in store with the 2025 Santa Cruz and then will decide if it needs to mitigate the rival equipped with a standard 2.5-liter with 191 hp or an optional 2.5-liter turbo packing 281 horsepower.
Suppose they take a stand against Santa Cruz with a new version of their best-selling Maverick. In that case, someone from across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has already found an interesting solution – borrow the looks and powertrain from the newly updated 2025 Ford Explorer ST. As such, Dimas Ramadhan, the virtual automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, has taken up the task of CGI-revealing a feisty Maverick ST compact unibody pickup truck.
Because everyone's entitled to an opinion and beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, we are first going to give you our thoughts on the matter. For starters, we think a more powerful Maverick than the Maverick hybrid with 191 hp or the Maverick EcoBoost with 250 hp is more than welcome. It would help fight off the 281-hp Santa Cruz even better and enhance its payload and towing capabilities.
However, the 3.0-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 with 400 hp from the 2025 Ford Explorer ST and 2025 Lincoln Aviator is slightly overkill. If it fits in the engine bay, it would probably arrive with something along the line of 300 to 350 hp so as not to impact the sales of the 2025 Ranger Raptor, which carries the same 3.0L TT V6 with a rating of 405 horsepower. Also, the design is lacking a lot.
This unofficial design project brings the updated looks of the 2025 Explorer ST to a potential Maverick ST variant, but we think that it would lessen the appeal of the compact pickup truck – which is extremely popular exactly because it's the opposite of a stylish crossover SUV. What do you think?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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