Zack Nakos Ford Motor Company’s Customer Communication Manager demonstrates the versatile capabilities of the 2022 Ford Maverick.
TranscriptZACK NAKOS: And what I'd like to share with your viewers is some of the innovative and thoughtful elements of our Flexbed. This is a result of time directly spent with our target customer, trying to understand exactly what sort of pain points they had with their cargo capabilities and their hauling capabilities of the current vehicle that they drive.
If I could start first with the tailgate, one of the first things that you might notice is what I refer to as a "multiposition tailgate." What this does is it allows you to actually engage the tailgate so that it is at like a midpoint of 45 degrees. You might say, well, what does this do for me?
It actually gives you a flat surface to insert things like plywood, fiberboard, Sheetrock, different types of-- it's getting caught on my glove-- different types of construction material that allows you to-- there we go-- that allows you to put-- position it in the bed without having it being cantilevered or kind of angled or cocked at an angle that might lead to it falling out.
If you take kind of a low shot trying to align with this leading edge of the tailgate, you'll notice that it actually aligns with this inner-box wheel well area, and that's specifically designed so that it can hold a piece or pieces of 4-by-8 plywood in a level manner and take advantage of the mini tie-downs that are available in the bed and in the tailgate portion to secure that cargo. So let me go get the piece of plywood, and you'll see exactly what I mean.
So anyone who's struggled with plywood at a Home Depot or big-box store knows that it's quite a challenge to get this kind of oblong piece of plywood inside. But if you're able to have it be on a level surface and utilize these tie-downs, you're actually able to secure your load without having to worry about it teetering or coming out accidentally. So we're really excited about being able to engineer something that's relatively simple but is quite an innovative solution to accommodate cargo.
Another item that I would point out is, overall, we have a total of 10 tie-downs that are available. We have tie-downs, as I mentioned, in the tailgate. We have tie-downs that are here in the back portion of the bed. We have cleats that serve as tie-downs that are adjustable. And then there are actually tie-downs in the bottom of the load floor. So let me help illustrate that for you. And as you can see, this slides right out.
Now, when we actually spent some time with customers in market research, they thought these type of slats and platform areas were an example of how Ford was really taking to heart how customers actually use their vehicles. You can imagine, and I can show you in a moment, the use of 2-by-4s and 2-by-6s to create individuals cargo areas that are separated. And you can do that with very little expense, just getting a few pieces of wood, and you've got two or three different configurations that can accommodate different configurations of cargo.
Our target customer actually is a very active individual. However, they are of limited means. They might spend a fair amount on a very capable mountain bike, but they don't have the disposable income for, let's say, a high-end bike rack.
So just as an example of how we took into consideration how customers use the vehicle, you can actually create your own DIY bike rack. If you take the front wheel off, you can actually have the bike in the bed with the tailgate closed. This serves as a space to retain the front wheel. And then with just a 2-by-4, a couple of clamps, you can actually make your own bike rack. And so, again, that illustrates how much effort we put into this in terms of forethought, how the customer might use it.
And you can imagine customers putting, let's say, other 2-by-6 portions here to create a second level. So like if you were going to the grocery store or going to a farmer's market, you could kind of create two levels to serve a greater cargo capability with just a few pieces of wood. So that's one thing I wanted to share with you.
I also wanted to point out a very innovative feature that made use of what's otherwise dead space. This is what we call the "cubby storage." This is standard on XLT and standard on Lariat. You'll notice there's hidden storage there. And within the hidden storage is more hidden storage.
And you can see how we've taken what is otherwise the dead space between the outer pick-up box and the inner pick-up box and created a finished, trimmed-off piece of storage or area of storage that you can store things like bungee cords, you know, any type of ratchet cinches to hold down your load. It's a perfect place to put things out of place, keep it clean, and keep it away from rain or snow, so just those sort of clever things that went into the design and execution of this just by getting input from customers.
Two other items that I wanted to share with you, we found that our target customer was very scrappy when it came to doing their own electrical wiring. And so we wanted to make that an easier operation for them. Some customers were cutting into the wiring for the tail lamps, which was compromising their battery or the electrical system.
And every Maverick comes with a standard prewire for 12-volt splicing. It's part of the electrical system, and it preserves the integrity of the electrical system and won't cause a battery drain. And that's standard, as I said, and there are two of them, one on each side.
And then in the lux packages on XLT as well as Lariat, we have a 110-volt 400-watt outlet. There's one in the bed here, as you can see, and then one on the center rear console inside the cabin, and then, of course, a very bright LED light here to illuminate what you might be doing in the dark.
So when we researched this, once we got the feedback, customers said, you know, Ford is really thinking about how I use my vehicle. They're doing things to make my life easier in terms of how I use my vehicle, and this helped take away a lot of those pain points that they were experiencing.
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