Ford Ranger's little brother could be named Maverick

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Is the world ready for the Ford Maverick? That could be the name of a new small pickup truck the Blue Oval has in the works.

The Fast Lane Truck on Thursday published a CAD image of a tailgate that clearly includes the name "Maverick" on the back, and it's obvious a more representative drawing would include a Ford badge below the tailgate handle. What else would go in the decidedly Ford-badge-shaped area? It's worth noting Ford's already applied to trademark the Maverick name in the past, and it was originally thought the name would grace what we now know as the Bronco Sport.

Ford did not immediately return a request for comment on the news, but we expect zipped lips when it comes to possible future vehicles.

The tailgate image made its way to a General Motors fan forum where a user published a thread potentially detailing information on the Maverick small pickup as well. Granted, these are rumors, but the Maverick is supposedly tied to a small crossover program and it will allegedly replace the ho-hum Ford Ecosport.

Both the crossover and truck will ride on Ford's C2 platform, which underpins plenty of smaller Ford crossovers, the Transit Connect and even the latest Focus we don't get in the US, so that doesn't seem like a stretch. Earlier information also pegged a new pickup to ride on the Focus' platform, so we're potentially starting to see the breadcrumbs lead somewhere. What we shouldn't expect is a super-tough, off-road ready pickup since this will likely not be a body-on-frame kind of deal.

If the info turns out true, the Maverick will sport a few small displacement engines ranging from a 1.5-liter inline-three engine to a 2.5-liter inline-four with hybrid gear, and we previously heard via outspoken dealerships this pickup will be very affordable. The crossover and pickup projects should help give Ford a couple different vehicles to target buyers not ready to spend $25,000 on an Escape or Ranger.