The resurgence of the compact pickup truck segment is led by a model that has quickly managed to get ahead of the competition, namely the Ford Maverick. The Blue Oval’s small pickup is already the quickest in its class when configured properly. And yet the Internet is lusting for an even hotter iteration, which is where this Maverick Sport digital proposal comes into play.
To revive its small trucks in North America, the Blue Oval borrowed the Maverick name from a small RWD coupe it built in the 1970s. And the automaker managed to make the pickup extremely affordable by using a plehtora of existing parts, with the result being so appreciated that people quickly got over the repurposing of the nameplate and, as mentioned above, are turning the pickup into a best-seller.
However, there’s one trend that neither Ford, nor the other members of the Detroit Big Three, have brought back and we’re refering to road-biased performance trucks—these days, US carmakers built desert runners like the F-150 Raptor, 1500 TRX and Silverado ZR2. And with the market turning towards electric trucks, there’s little hope for an official revival of this niche.
Thankfully, digital artist Jim (aka jlord8) has a thing for sport trucks, and his latest effort is this Maverick Sport, which is simply impossible to resist.
In his 2D work dubbed “Maverick Sport” (check out the door badging), the pixel master ticks two important boxes. For starters, he gives the pickup a Regular Cab—the actual vehicle only comes in four-door Crew Cab form, while keeping the factory 4.5-foot bed.
And the smaller, even lighter body of the Maverick Sport is gifted with a few aero tweaks, which range from the lower body pieces to the vents on the front wings.
The Maverick Sport has the muscle to pull it off
Sure, the Maverick comes with a starting price of $20,000, but that’s for the N/A 2.5L engine, which is assited by a small electric motor, with the hybrid configuration delivering 191 hp to the front wheels via a CVT.
However, if you switch to the 2.0L EcoBoost turbo-four with the optional AWD (think: 250 hp, eight-speed automatic), the truck can pride itself on covering the 0 to 60 mph sprint in as little as 5.9 seconds, which easily makes it the quickest small truck.
However, continuing Ford’s path of hitting the parts bin for the Maverick, Jim envisions the Maverick Sport with a 3.0L EcoBoost V6 from the Explorer ST, which churns out 400 hp. And since the Maverick platform doesn’t come in RWD form, the artist stuck to the AWD recipe for some blistering launches.
Of course, with the said motor featuring Ford Performance goodies, the price of this dreamy 2023 Maverick Sport wouldn’t remain that appealing.
Could we see something like this at the 2022 SEMA show?
However, given that the Maverick will undoubtedly revive another trend, namely the custom mini trucks of the 90s (here’s one that’s already been modded like this in real life), we’ll get to see plenty of modded examples at this year’s SEMA show. And since the model is so popular, perhaps an eccentric shop out there will dare to cut the cab. As such, we’ll give this rendering an 8 out of 10 in the RPM (Real-life Project in the Making) Potential department.
Now, the said dedication to sport trucks that the artist shows, which we’ve previously covered (here’s his Ram 1500 TRX twist, for instance), you might want to check out more of the colection the man has rendered so far. Multiple CGI trucks of the series, which range from the old-school Buick Pickup that never was to a GT-R-infused Nissan Titan, can be seen in the second Instagram post below.