The 2022 Ford Maverick has been leaked ahead of its reveal on June 9, 2021.
Ford has also released a teaser commercial showing the tailgate, which appears to wear a hybrid badge.
The leaked photos were shared on the Maverick Truck Club forums and show two vehicles, one of which wears FX4 decals.
The surprise had already been mostly ruined thanks to photos shared of a commercial shoot, but we’ve now also gotten a look at the ute’s interior.
The dashboard is similar in layout, though not identical, to that of the mid-sized Bronco Sport crossover, another Ford we’re unlikely to see here.
That should come as little surprise as the Maverick shares its C2 platform with the crossover, as well as the Focus and Escape.
Its chunky, upright exterior styling is much more in the vein of the Bronco Sport than those other cars and allows it to fit in with more traditional, body-on-frame pickups like Ford’s own Ranger.
Like the Honda Ridgeline and Hyundai Santa Cruz, and of course its Bronco Sport sibling, it’ll employ unibody construction.
It isn’t clear yet which electrified powertrain the Maverick Hybrid will use.
Ford offers the related Escape with two different hybrid powertrains in North America – one a regular hybrid, one a plug-in – which both use a naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre petrol four-cylinder engine.
The company claims a total system output of 149kW for both.
Should it offer the plug-in hybrid, it’ll beat the Ranger which isn’t set to get one until the middle of the decade.
We expect the Maverick’s powertrain line-up to otherwise mirror that of the Bronco Sport.
That means a 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine with 135kW of power and 260Nm of torque, and a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder with 183kW and 373Nm.
Both engines are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Unlike body-on-frame utes, the Maverick will use four-wheel independent suspension, and there’ll likely be a choice of front- or all-wheel drive.
While the Bronco Sport doesn’t offer low-range gearing, in range-topping Badlands trim it offers extra off-road equipment that could find its way to the Maverick in FX4 trim.
The Bronco Sport Badlands uses a torque-vectoring rear differential, borrowing technology from the defunct Focus RS, plus two additional off-road terrain modes.
Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl modes bring the total of off-road modes to seven, while the Badlands also features front tow hooks and additional underbody protection.
The Maverick will slot in underneath the Ranger in the North American line-up, offering more car-like dynamics if less in the way of overall power and capability.
The Ranger in North America uses a turbocharged 2.3-litre petrol four-cylinder engine producing 201kW of power and 420Nm of torque.
2009-11 Bantam 
1977-79 Ranchero
The Maverick will be the first North American Ford ute or pickup truck based on a car platform since the LTD II-based Ranchero ended production in 1979, although that model employed body-on-frame construction.
Ford subsequently offered a four-door ute version of its Explorer, called the Sport Trac, from 2001 to 2010.
The car-based Ford ute enjoyed a longer life in other markets, with the Australian Falcon ute continuing to 2016 and the Fiesta-based Courier in South America and Bantam in South Africa ending production earlier in the 2010s.
The Maverick nameplate has been used numerous times in Ford’s history, including on rebadged versions of the Nissan Patrol and Terrano II, the first-generation Escape, and the Falcon’s 1970 successor in North America.
