Ford Maverick Lobo: A pickup designed to autocross and drift?

If the name’s any indication, the Ford Maverick Lobo might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Sure, it looks like a sportier version of the pickup truck, but Ford wants you to know you can also do sporty things with it. Specifically, its engineering team designed it with autocross and drifting in mind.

Say what?

The Lobo was inspired by a 2021 SEMA build. Tucci Hot Rods customized a Maverick in conjunction with the design studio at Ford. That got the Ford folks wondering: What can they do from the performance side?

The Tucci Hot Rods Ford Maverick displayed during the 2021 SEMA Show.

“We put together a couple of passionate engineers and created a skunkworks kind of team where we built a truck just like our customers would,” says Kirk Leonard, Maverick Vehicle Integration Supervisor. “We took a pre-production prototype and started throwing the best performance parts we could at it. Those performance upgrades made it enhance the already fun-to-drive Maverick. Once we did that, we realized that this thing had performance potential and we could get a fun-to-drive vehicle that could turn and rotate for our customers in autocross or drifting.”

Ford started with the all-wheel-drive Ford Maverick Lariat that comes with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine. Then, just like many racers would do, engineers dropped the ride height by about a half-inch up front and more than an inch in the rear. (And for those wondering about the Lobo’s dimensions for autocross, it measures 67.7 inches at its tallest, with a track width 63.1 inches at its narrowest.) The Ford team also installed stiffer springs and different shocks to help body roll and cornering.

“We started raiding the parts bin,” says Keith Daugherty, Maverick Vehicle Integration Engineer. “We updated the cooling package, because we have a 4K Tow Package, so that gives us a bigger radiator and fan. We have a transmission oil cooler that was in production, so we put it on there. Then, we started looking outside the Maverick, and we saw a steering gear from the Kuga, the European version of the Escape. It’s not something you’d think of as sporty or performance, but it has a faster ratio for the steering rack. Combine that with stiffer strut mounts from a Mach-E and all that helps with steering on the front end.”

Front end–check.

“Anytime you go faster you’re going to need to stop faster,” Keith continues. “So, we grabbed brakes from the European Focus ST. That upgraded us from a single-piston caliper to a dual-piston caliper. With that, you have a slighter larger rotor as well.”

The Lobo gets a quick-shifting, seven-speed automatic that’s similar to the European-market Focus ST.

“To help with that engaging driving experience, we added paddle shifters to the Lobo,” Keith says. “The customer can directly control the transmission in manual mode. It’s the same eight-speed transmission we have today. There’s a couple of trans ratios that for drivability and fuel economy that make sense, but for pure performance, the ratios are too close so if you’re near redline you end up needing to do a double shift. We recalibrated that transmission so it’s only a seven speed.”

Going toward the rear of the truck is where the Lobo gets really unique: a twin-clutch rear drive unit with torque vectoring.

“We’ve been calling it our ‘secret weapon,’” says Keith proudly. “We took the twin-mech RDU out of our Bronco Sport and Tremor. The genesis of this is that those vehicles use the twin-mech torque vectoring in sand. Obviously, the demands of torque vectoring [for off-roading] is a little different. Once we knew this was going to be for on-road performance, such as autocross or drifting, we were like, let’s see what torque vectoring is capable in that condition. We found out it’s pretty capable. The big takeaway is we did all [the improvements to the] steering in the front of the vehicle. With torque vectoring in the back, it’s able to help rotate and steer the rear of the vehicle, too, to help complement what’s going on in the front.”

Ford engineers say that torque vectoring works well both for autocross and drift. You might be wondering, “Well, one situation demands grip, the other demands slip.” You’re correct. The truck’s Lobo mode for doing those things works for both, but how?

“When you activate Lobo mode, the torque vectoring will sense all kinds of parameters, such as steering wheel angle, throttle position, vehicle speed, wheel speeds,” explains Keith. “So, when you start your turn, it will recognize, ‘Okay, I’m driving into a corner, so I need to turn and I’m going to keep helping you turn.’ So long as you’re not in a slip condition, it’s going to keep helping you turn. If you get into a drift condition, once it sees enough slip and countersteering, it will recognize, ‘Okay, I’ve gone from driving an autocross to drifting.’ Instead of trying to correct you based on your steering wheel angle, it will keep overdriving you into that drift. You don’t have to tell it whether you are autocrossing or drifting it, it recognizes it.”

Lobo mode also affects the engine and transmission, although the engine didn’t get a power boost, per se, to the 238 horses and 275 lb.-ft. of torque it gets with the other Mavericks.

“Even though we did not upgrade the engine we did not ignore the power side of the performance,” Keith says. “We upgraded several engine and transmission parameters. We did things like shift points, shift speed, shift firmness. There’s even a framework that’s called inertia shifting, which is when you do those quick shifts you can actually use the inertia of the transmission internals to help give you a little bump in acceleration and overcome that lack of acceleration during that short shift period.”

Ford designed the Ford Maverick Lobo so that Joe Racer can use it daily and then go drift or autocross, or both. It still has a bed to haul stuff … such as tires. It still tows up to 2000 pounds … so you can haul your friends’ tires for a nominal fee (just a suggestion). However, engineers understood that both the autocross and drift crowds might want to do additional mods to make the truck even more capable for those respective motorsport disciplines.

For example, autocrossers may want to swap in more aggressive brake pads. Both crowds may want to swap out the Goodyear Territory 225/50R19 all-season tires for something more suitable for their disciplines. Perhaps there are some engine mods, too, to be made to get more power.

Or perhaps, you just want a fun-to-drive truck for on the road, which Ford says it will deliver, too, as is.

“The idea is we started with a solid foundation of a performance vehicle,” Kirk says. “We let our customers decides where to go from there with that performance.”

Pricing begins at $35,000 for the Standard. Opt for the High configuration the price goes up to $40,495. The High version will get you some nice creature comforts, though, such as a heated steering wheel and seats, Ford Co-Pilot360 2.0 driver assist technologies, a 360-degree camera, spray-in bedliner, moon roof, and Pro Trailer Hitch Assist and Pro Trailer Backup Assist.

Ford will start taking orders for the 2025 Maverick Lobo today. First deliveries are expected in early 2025.

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