Rebecca and Shane Phillips are accustomed to getting appears to be like when driving round California of their 1985 Mercury Colony Park or 1978 Lincoln Continental with longhorns on the entrance. However the latest head turner of their assortment has been considerably sudden.

“The appears to be like we’re getting are fairly neat. All people I’ve run into they’re like, ‘I’ve by no means seen one thing like this,'” mentioned Rebecca, 31. “It is all the time enjoyable to drive by and any person will get stunned about what it truly is and what it appears to be like like.”

It isn’t a basic automobile, sports activities automotive or electrical automobile. It is the brand new 2022 Ford Maverick, a small pickup truck that not too long ago went on sale because the automaker’s least costly automobile in its total lineup of automobiles and vehicles at about $20,000.

Whereas the automobile has solely been on sale for barely over a month, Ford Motor says the compact truck – concerning the size of a Toyota full-size sedan however priced at far lower than that and lots of different smaller automobiles – is already succeeding in attracting new, youthful and extra cost-conscious patrons just like the Phillips’.

“We actually are seeing a brand new buyer coming into Ford. And that was actually our ambition. We cloth was to enchantment to a youthful, extra various buyer. And we’re definitely seeing that,” Todd Eckert, Ford truck advertising supervisor, advised CNBC.

Ford bought greater than 4,100 Mavericks through the automobile’s first full month of gross sales in October. Eckert mentioned the corporate will proceed to ramp-up manufacturing of the truck on the automaker’s Hermosillo plant in Mexico.

The significance of Maverick is not nearly gross sales, however in attracting new prospects to Ford. It could act as a gateway automobile for patrons to step into bigger, pricier Ford pickups such because the midsize Ranger and full-size F-150.

Early Maverick patrons are skewing youthful and extra feminine than the historically male-dominated truck market, in keeping with Ford.

Ford mentioned 1 / 4 of the Maverick’s patrons are ladies in contrast with 84% for full-size pickups, in keeping with J.D. Energy. The corporate experiences greater than 1 / 4 of patrons are also between 18 and 35 years outdated – double the business common for that age group. The common age of a brand new automobile purchaser is 48, in keeping with J.D. Energy.

The Phillips’ mentioned they don’t seem to be “large truck folks” and even new automotive folks however they had been drawn to the Maverick due to its worth, options and gas economic system.

It is a related story for Christopher Molloy II, who bought the Maverick as his first new automobile in early October. He traded in a compact Chevy Cruze sedan for the pickup.

“I wasn’t first in search of a Maverick. I did not realize it existed,” mentioned the 23-year-old Oregonian. “I used to be in search of extra SUV-type. I wasn’t actually anticipating to get a brand new truck as a result of they’re so costly till I noticed the Maverick was popping out.”

Ford stunned many with the Maverick’s low worth in addition to its commonplace 2.5-liter hybrid engine that may obtain greater than 40 mpg throughout metropolis driving. A Maverick with an optionally available 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine that will get a mixed 26 mpg mixed, together with 30 mpg freeway and 23 mpg metropolis, begins at about $21,000.

The highest autos Maverick patrons additionally have a look at are different small pickups such because the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger in addition to small crossovers and even the Honda Civic sedan, in keeping with auto analysis agency Edmunds.

The decrease pricing is a welcomed change for customers, as automobile costs attain report highs of roughly $44,000, together with a quickly rising providing of dear pickup vehicles that may prime greater than $100,000.

“In 25 years of being on this enterprise, I do not know that I’ve seen a producer carry a product out that hit the goal this properly,” mentioned Derek Lee, basic supervisor of Lengthy McArthur Ford in Kansas. “What we’re seeing in patrons is a youthful purchaser. We’re seeing first-time automotive patrons. We’re having import automotive patrons.”

The early common worth prospects are paying for the Maverick is $29,749, in keeping with Cox Automotive. That features sellers and prospects deciding on increased priced trims and choices on the truck.

Lee mentioned the dealership has greater than 400 Mavericks on order. He mentioned preliminary demand is the very best he is seen for the shop, which focuses on bigger Tremendous Obligation pickups.

The Phillips’ and Molloy mentioned sellers did not mark up the value on their Mavericks, though it is a new automobile and stock ranges at near-record lows on account of an ongoing scarcity of semiconductor chips.

Some sellers, who can legally promote a automotive for no matter worth they select above the producer’s steered retail worth, have been exploiting the low stock ranges and marking up autos 1000’s, if not tens of 1000’s of {dollars}, in keeping with experiences and seller web sites.

The Maverick hasn’t been utterly freed from markups. Lee mentioned his dealership is not going to mark up a Maverick if it is ordered by a buyer, but when somebody cancels their order and it goes on the seller lot, they’ve been pricing them about $2,500 over MSRP.

“If a automobile will get right here and any person turns it down, sure, we have a look at what the market is. We nonetheless work to be the bottom worth available in the market,” Lee mentioned. “I do know there’s some on the market at $5,000 over, I do know there’s some on the market at $10,000 over. We felt like $2,500 over was a really, particularly reasonable worth.”

Eckert mentioned the corporate cannot management how sellers worth their autos, however they’ve communicated to sellers the significance of pricing for this automobile and its goal prospects.

“We have talked concerning the general proposition and who these automobiles servers are and the way we need to appeal to them,” he mentioned. “They management markup or no markup, however you we really feel like affordability was one of many keys.”