I never suspected that government regulations were the reason we can't buy small pickup trucks any more - sigh.
"With all-wheel drive the rear suspension becomes an independent coil spring system. On road, the difference in ride and driving manners between the two- and all-wheel-drive models is negligible to the point of being indistinguishable. The turbo Ecoboost four has more power, but it doesn't feel particularly quick nor much quicker than the Hybrid. The instant torque of the small electric motor in the Hybrid compensates for a lot at low speeds."
"The new Maverick's bed is deeper than the old A's and the payload is a stout 1500 pounds. Plus the bed can be configured a bajillion ways using lumber pieces cut to fit or hanging the tailgate at an angle to take longer loads. ... The Ranger may be more nimble, but still more than what many of us need."
"Now watch to see how Toyota responds. It has even more experience than Ford with hybrids and has traditionally been dominant in the entry-level truck market. It's hard to believe it will let Ford have this ripe, if not new, small truck market to itself."
The Ford Maverick Had to Be a Hybrid - How Ford is restoring hopes of a mini truck renaissance with a little electric help.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a36697224/ford-maverick-had-to-be-a-hybrid/
"The Maverick will be the first small truck to be sold in the United States as a gas-electric hybrid.
It comes down to how the government calculates fuel economy targets for light trucks. It's a convoluted and somewhat contradictory voodoo formula that applies different efficiency standards to vehicles based upon their "footprint." That is basically, the area a vehicle occupies – its length multiplied by its track width. The bigger shadow a truck casts, the easier the fuel economy standards it must meet. It's a method of regulation that's practically killed the regular cab pickup truck and made introducing smaller trucks, until the Maverick, a virtual impossibility.
...
Here's the formula for determining the target fuel economy (T) of light trucks to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) goals. These standards went into effect for 2011.
T = [1/a + (1/b – 1/a) e(x-c)/d/(1 + e(x-c)/d)]-1
where:
T – fuel economy target, mpg
a – maximum fuel economy target, mpg
b – minimum fuel economy target, mpg
c – footprint value at which the fuel economy target is midway between a and b, in square feet
d – parameter defining the rate at which the value of targets decline from the largest to smallest values, in square feet
e = 2.718
x – footprint of the vehicle model, in square feet
Footprint, that "x" value, matters a lot in this equation. And it matters even more in the context of managing a portfolio of diverse products across a manufacturer's range. What it meant for Toyota back in 2014 was that there'd be no regular cab Tacoma for 2015. And there hasn't been a regular cab Tacoma since. The Tundra regular cab was offed after the 2014 model year as well.
For manufacturers, killing the regular cab trucks was no great loss of business.
...
But for the same reason that regular cabs had to die, so did the possibility of truly small trucks. Over the years, I've asked virtually all the truck builders about opportunities for a small truck in America. They all recognized there was a market, but that with the current footprint regulations there was no way to profitably get one to market. But with the hybrid version as the base configuration, Ford seems to have overcome that hurdle.
I would like the cheapest version that includes the turbocharged, 2.0-liter four rated at 250-horsepower, eight-speed automatic transaxle (not the CVT), and AWD (mandatory with that engine for now).
The Ford Maverick Is the Truck America Needs - Ford's new small truck is a revival of a very old idea.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/reviews/a37882119/ford-maverick-review/"With all-wheel drive the rear suspension becomes an independent coil spring system. On road, the difference in ride and driving manners between the two- and all-wheel-drive models is negligible to the point of being indistinguishable. The turbo Ecoboost four has more power, but it doesn't feel particularly quick nor much quicker than the Hybrid. The instant torque of the small electric motor in the Hybrid compensates for a lot at low speeds."
"The new Maverick's bed is deeper than the old A's and the payload is a stout 1500 pounds. Plus the bed can be configured a bajillion ways using lumber pieces cut to fit or hanging the tailgate at an angle to take longer loads. ... The Ranger may be more nimble, but still more than what many of us need."
"Now watch to see how Toyota responds. It has even more experience than Ford with hybrids and has traditionally been dominant in the entry-level truck market. It's hard to believe it will let Ford have this ripe, if not new, small truck market to itself."
The Ford Maverick Had to Be a Hybrid - How Ford is restoring hopes of a mini truck renaissance with a little electric help.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a36697224/ford-maverick-had-to-be-a-hybrid/
"The Maverick will be the first small truck to be sold in the United States as a gas-electric hybrid.
It comes down to how the government calculates fuel economy targets for light trucks. It's a convoluted and somewhat contradictory voodoo formula that applies different efficiency standards to vehicles based upon their "footprint." That is basically, the area a vehicle occupies – its length multiplied by its track width. The bigger shadow a truck casts, the easier the fuel economy standards it must meet. It's a method of regulation that's practically killed the regular cab pickup truck and made introducing smaller trucks, until the Maverick, a virtual impossibility.
...
Here's the formula for determining the target fuel economy (T) of light trucks to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) goals. These standards went into effect for 2011.
T = [1/a + (1/b – 1/a) e(x-c)/d/(1 + e(x-c)/d)]-1
where:
T – fuel economy target, mpg
a – maximum fuel economy target, mpg
b – minimum fuel economy target, mpg
c – footprint value at which the fuel economy target is midway between a and b, in square feet
d – parameter defining the rate at which the value of targets decline from the largest to smallest values, in square feet
e = 2.718
x – footprint of the vehicle model, in square feet
Footprint, that "x" value, matters a lot in this equation. And it matters even more in the context of managing a portfolio of diverse products across a manufacturer's range. What it meant for Toyota back in 2014 was that there'd be no regular cab Tacoma for 2015. And there hasn't been a regular cab Tacoma since. The Tundra regular cab was offed after the 2014 model year as well.
For manufacturers, killing the regular cab trucks was no great loss of business.
...
But for the same reason that regular cabs had to die, so did the possibility of truly small trucks. Over the years, I've asked virtually all the truck builders about opportunities for a small truck in America. They all recognized there was a market, but that with the current footprint regulations there was no way to profitably get one to market. But with the hybrid version as the base configuration, Ford seems to have overcome that hurdle.
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