The 2022 Ford Maverick is for the kind of person “who needs a tight turning radius to parallel park in narrow spots,” Ford says. It’s for the kind of person who “wants to get around the city,” Ford says, while also emphasizing its targeted 40 mpg in the city. The only problem is that the Maverick is not really for cities after all.

We know this because Ford will not be selling the Maverick in Europe, which is a market that loves great city cars. , Ford won’t be bringing the Maverick there ostensibly because Europeans are turning away from pickups and toward more petite SUVs and crossovers. And yet Auto News also says that the Ford Ranger is selling quite well in Europe, suggesting that, while Europeans may be turning away from pickups, they aren’t from Fords.

From :

A Ford of Europe spokesman told Automotive News Europe that the Maverick will not be exported for sale in Europe.

In Europe, Ford is one of only a few automakers still offering pickups. Its midsize Ranger is currently the best-selling pickup in the region with sales up 44 percent to 12,000 in the first quarter, according to JATO Dynamics market researcher.

It is also possible that Ford isn’t bringing the Maverick to Europe because of stricter emissions regulations there. Even looking at specifications alone, the Ford Maverick is not great for cities, or seemingly intended for them.

The Ford Maverick, for example, is almost 17 feet long, or about a foot shorter than a Cadillac Escalade. It would not be impossible to street park a Ford Maverick in a major city — plenty of cars in NYC are just as big — but it would also not be practical.

It is also a shame that Ford has to pretend that the Maverick is a good car for cities, because, the thing is, Ford used to sell a good city car in America. It was called the Fiesta. In its hatchback form, it was just over 13 feet long — perfect for pulling into a street spot that might not be able to fit a car that is almost 17 feet long, which is a lot of street spots.

There are markets of course, where Ford does still sell the Fiesta, including in Europe, where good city cars are afforded the proper respect they deserve. The problem, as Ford has apparently realized, is that a midsize truck like the Maverick simply is not one of them.