So far, the Ford Maverick pickup has been a pretty well-kept secret outside of some leaked CAD images and a photo that showed off what appeared to be the real tailgate with the Maverick name stamped on it. Rumors have suggested that it would be part of the Bronco family and could even be the rumored Bronco truck that has now been all but confirmed to arrive before 2024. However, a new leak via Maverick Chat forums, which quotes a person claiming to work for a supplier, has painted a very clear picture of what we can expect, and it’s probably not good.

Maverick Pickup: Ford’s Fear of Failure Is Setting It Up For Failure

Here’s the cold, clear-cut truth: There’s not a single compact truck on the U.S. market and, according to the source of this information, Ford isn’t sure about the Mavericks chances of success. That fear, which is derived from the chance for poor sales and money spent in R&D, is exactly why the Maverick is being set up to fail right from the start. How can that be? Well, what if I told you that not only is the Maverick not part of the Bronco family but that it will essentially be a Transit Connect with a bed? Doesn’t sound too good, does it?

It will share a lot of mechanical components, including the Transit’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 162 horsepower. Reportedly, the smaller 1.5-liter, turbocharged, three-cylinder with 180 horsepower will be available as an option sometime down the road. Interestingly enough, Ford is apparently looking to build 100,000 examples of the Maverick in the first year of production, which seems high considering Ford delivered less than 90,000 examples of the Ford ranger during its first full year of availability (2019).

The other interesting tidbit from this leaked info is what we’ve learned about the size of the Maverick. That is “depending on configuration, of course.” To put this into perspective, the Ford Ranger SuperCrew has a 61-inch (5.08-foot) bed while the SuperCab has a 72.8-inch (6.06-foot) bed. That puts the Maverick having a 37-inch (3.08-foot) bed or a 48.8-inch (4.06-foot) bed, assuming it will be offered in a similar configuration as the Ranger.

So, with that said, we’re looking at a four-door Transit connect with a 3-4 foot bed attached to the back. I don’t know about you, but my imagination tells me that the Ford Maverick compact pickup is going to end up looking very odd. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Ford would have a better chance if the Maverick was based on the Bronco family, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.