Going Lobo

The Ford Lightning electric truck may not be goin’ any damn where – to paraphrase what the Toothless Man with the shotgun told Jon Voight in Deliverance – but the little Maverick pickup is going Lobo.

Probably because the latter actually does go – while the former doesn’t go very far.

Ford expected – Ford had hoped – the Lightning was going to be a big hit and a cash cow. It wasn’t. Cash has bled. Like Jon Voight did, when the inbred cracker tried out his knife on him.

The underlying idea wasn’t bad in that a big truck seemed like the ideal place to house a big battery, as opposed to the much smaller space inside a car or even a crossover. And devices need big batteries because they don’t store much energy otherwise.

The fly in the soup was that a big truck is already heavy – even if it has an aluminum-skinned body. A standard – non-electric – 2024 F-150 SuperCrew weighs 4,687 lbs. or more than two tons. It takes a lot of charge to get that much weight moving (especially if it’s also towing another several thousand pounds). So Ford installed a battery that weighs almost two tons more in this device and the result is a three-ton half-ton pick-up that doesn’t go very far because it can’t – on account of all that weight .

The device is also much more expensive than the regular F-150, chiefly on account of that huge (and heavy) battery.

Unsurprisingly, it has not sold well.

Unlike the Maverick, which Ford probably never thought would do as well as it has. But it’s been easily the most successful new model Ford has introduced in years. Probably because it’s not a device – and because it’s useful, as most people expect a truck to be. It goes about twice as far before it has to stop (495 highway miles; 380 in the city vs. 240, maybe) and it only takes a few minutes to get going again. It also costs less than half as much to buy ($23,920 to start) as the device – which starts at $54,955 – Ford had hoped would sell to people who didn’t actually need a truck.

Ford has a hit – and a flop – on its hands. To make up for the latter, Ford is going Lobo with the Maverick.

The Lobo is a new, high-performance iteration of the 2025 Maverick that ups the fun factor, making this truck appealing on another level.

Without taking away from its original appeal – because it’s still a truck rather than a device that looks like one.

The bed remains – and so does the range as well as the absence of inconvenience. Added to that is drifting capability, via a stability/traction control system that partially disables itself when the driver requests, allowing the rear end to swing wide by permitting the rear tires to lose traction.

For once, “safety” isn’t first.

Of course, it’s not “unsafe” to drift, if you know what you’re doing. There’s an increased risk that something might go awry, of course. But that is not the same thing as unsafe – though the distinction has been muddied by neurotic control freaks who consider any risk (which encompasses any kind of driving) “unsafe.”

The Lobo also gets a unique-to-this trim twin-clutch, torque-vectoring rear axle and an upgraded, heavy-duty seven speed automatic transmission with one less forward gear than the eight speed automatic that’s standard in other Mavericks. The idea being to increase  responsiveness by decreasing the number of up (and down) shifts and the time it takes for that to happen. Ford has also tweaked up the boost of the turbocharged 2.0 liter engine that’s standard in regular Mavericks, which already makes 250 horsepower.

Heavy-duty cooling is part of the package.

So also a set of matte-black “turbine” wheels that appear to have been borrowed from a third generation Pontiac Trans-Am. They looked great back then and they look just as good now.

Upgraded brakes pirated from the European-market Focus ST (which is no longer sold here) plus a lowered suspension and a wider body complete the look – and the function. Without the result being either unaffordable – you’ll be able to pick up a new Lobo for around $35,000 to start – or impractical. The lowered ride height and sticky, street-performance tires will reduce the Lobo’s off-road capabilities. But it will still have the ability to haul a load in its bed without having to stop every 100 miles or less and make you wait hours for a charge, as the device that looks like a truck does.

That means it works, which is what used to define the appeal of a truck before someone at Ford decided to make one that doesn’t. Luckily – for Ford – someone also decided to make another one that does, which may ultimately save Ford.

If Ford stops making devices like the Lightning – and ramps up production of trucks like the Maverick. And not just the Lobo iteration. How about a regular or even just an extended cab version with an eight foot bed and an even lower starting price, so that even more people who need a truck that works would be able to buy one.

That’d be really Lobo.

. . .

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