Rebecca Phillips and Shane Phillips get a lot of attention when they drive around California in their 1978 Lincoln Continental with longhorns at the front. Their latest head-turner is a little bit different.

“The looks they’re getting are very neat. Rebecca, 31, stated, “Everybody that I’ve ever met is like, I’ve never heard anything like this.’ It’s fun to pass it and be surprised at what it is.

This is not an electric car, sports car, or classic vehicle. It is a versatile vehicle. the new 2022 Ford MaverickA small pickup truck, the “” was recently on sale at $20,000.

Although the car has been available for just a few months, Ford Motor says the compact truck – about the length of a Toyota full-size sedan but priced at far less than that and many other smaller cars – is already succeeding in attracting new, younger and more cost-conscious buyers like the Phillips’.

We are really seeing new customers coming to Ford. This was actually our dream. Fabric was designed to appeal to younger customers. CNBC’s Todd Eckert said that we are seeing this.

Ford sold over 4,100 Mavericks in the first month of October’s sales. Eckert indicated that Ford will increase the production of its truck at Mexico’s Hermosillo facility.

Maverick’s importance is not only about Ford sales but also in attracting new customers. Maverick may be a gateway vehicle to customers. step into larger, pricier Ford pickupsSuch as the F-150 full-size and midsize Ranger.

Ford reports that early Maverick buyers tend to be younger and more feminine than traditional male-dominated truck markets.

Ford claims that 25% of Maverick’s customers are women. This compares to the 84% who buy full-size pickups according J.D. Power. The company reports more than a quarter of buyers also are between 18 and 35 years old – double the industry average for that age group. J.D. Power reports that the average buyer of new vehicles is 48 years old. Power.

Phillips said that they don’t consider themselves “big truck folks” or new car enthusiasts, but were drawn to the Maverick’s price, features, and fuel efficiency.

Christopher Molloy II had a similar experience. He bought the Maverick in October as his first vehicle. For the pickup, he traded in his compact Chevy Cruze sedan.

“I didn’t look first for a Maverick. It didn’t exist,” the Oregonian, 23, said. I was searching for more SUV-type. “I wasn’t expecting to buy a truck, because they are so costly until I discovered the Maverick.

Ford’s Maverick surprised many thanks to its low price and standard 2.5-liter hybrid engine. more than 40 mpgWhen driving in cities. The Maverick comes with an optional turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. It gets 26 mpg in total, which includes 30 mpg on the highway and 23 city.

Edmunds reports that Maverick buyers often look into other pickups such the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger and Ford Ranger. They also consider small crossovers and the Honda Civic sedan.

Molloy and Phillips claimed that dealers did not mark up their Mavericks’ prices, despite the fact it was a brand new car and stock levels near record lows due to an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips.

Dealers can legally sell vehicles at whatever price they want above manufacturer’s recommended retail price. According to reports and websites, these dealers have taken advantage of low inventories and marked up cars thousands of dollars.

There have been some markups on the Maverick. Lee stated that his dealer will not markup a Maverick ordered by customers, but that if somebody cancels an order, it is priced at $2,500 more than MSRP.

We look at the market if a vehicle arrives and is turned down. Lee explained that they still try to get the lowest market price. There are many out there for $5,000 or more, and I also know that there is a lot out there for $10,000 or more. It felt that $2,500 was an extremely fair price.

Eckert explained that while the company is unable to control dealers pricing their vehicles, the company has communicated to them the importance of pricing the vehicle for its targeted customers.

He stated that they had discussed the whole proposition, who these people are, and what we wanted to do to draw them in. They control the markup but we felt affordability was an important factor.