The 2025 Ford Maverick remains the sole compact pickup truck on sale in North America—and it’s been a smash success since it launched, with Ford adding a third shift at its plant to meet the demand. That suggests not every American pickup buyer needs something the size of Ford’s F-Series, which remains the best-selling vehicle line in the US after four decades.
In particular, the Maverick made headlines in 2022 by offering a hybrid version that returned a 37 mpg combined EPA rating—against 26 mpg for its non-hybrid counterpart. Now, in its fourth model year, Ford has added the feature most requested by Maverick Hybrid buyers: all-wheel drive. And it’s rated at the same 37 mpg, no less.
However, a storm cloud hovers over the new feature and the new model year: All Mavericks are made in Mexico, meaning they may well be subject to an import tariff—though details of how or whether that may be applied remain in flux at the time of writing.
The Maverick retains the clever design features that won acclaim when it launched. Slots in the FlexBed accept many sizes and types of lumber, while a half-open position for the tailgate lets DIYers carry flat boards. Owners who fancy themselves “makers” can wire their own LED bed lights—Ford built in a plug connector just for them.
Still, it’s the AWD Hybrid that’s the big news this year. And it turned out to require more work than simply swapping in a second driveshaft and a rear axle. Ford had to design an entirely new generation of its two-motor hybrid transaxle to make it work. For 2025, the previous third-generation system (known as HF45) has been replaced by a far more powerful fourth-gen system (HF55). WIRED got the details during almost an hour with Abby Grajek, the Maverick’s vehicle integration engineer—which in non-Detroit terms means she’s responsible for ensuring every performance target and user need specified for the vehicle is translated onto the assembly line and, hopefully, delivered properly.
Haul Much More Than Last Hybrid
The Maverick’s Ford C2 platform is fundamentally oriented toward front-wheel-drive powertrains, as found in the Ford Escape (North America) and Kuga (in Europe), the soon-to-be-discontinued Europe-only Focus, and the Lincoln Corsair among others. When AWD was needed for the truck, Ford stuck with a traditional mechanical system that takes the combined power output of the engine and hybrid system and splits it between two drive units: one for the front wheels, one for the rear. This stands in contrast to Toyota and other hybrid makers, who use a small e-motor on the rear axle to add incremental power on demand.
The AWD Maverick Hybrid had to provide the same towing capacity as its turbo 2.0-liter gasoline counterpart, meaning a tow rating of up to 4,000 pounds if the “4K towing option” is specified. In practical terms, that meant that when towing, the total output of the engine and hybrid system had to be high enough to power a 3,850-pound vehicle, up to four occupants and cargo, plus a 4,000-pound trailer—effectively hauling a second vehicle, meaning double the weight the previous hybrid system had to tow. The new transaxle’s internal cooling had to be robust enough to tow that combined weight up a steep grade for many miles without the electric motors overheating.
