We first caught wind of Ford's intention to bring the Maverick name back in 2018. The original Maverick was a small rear-wheel-drive sedan, but we now know the name is going on a small truck. We've seen the spy shots, we've seen the rumors, and we've seen the leaks. Now, thanks to our friends over at The Fast Lane Truck, we can check out the Ford Maverick in its full glory. A TFLtruck reader spotted the Maverick in San Diego with all its bodywork and paint on show and passed on the photos they shot. Why it was wandering around San Diego in the open is anybody's guess, but it was most likely for a commercial video or photoshoot.

We can see just how small the truck is, and it looks clear to us that it is on a unibody platform as previous leaks promised. Most likely, the Maverick is on the same platform as the Ford Escape and Bronco Sport which will keep the price down, and it will be shorter than the Ford Ranger. We know that as spy shots caught the Maverick riding alongside a modern Mustang. The smart money is on the Maverick sporting the same drivetrains as the SUVs, namely a 1.5-liter or 2.0-liter turbocharged engine and a hybrid option. The 1.5-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost would be for the entry-level model and the 2.0 four-cylinder for the upper trim levels, but both likely tuned for better low-end torque.

We suspect that TFLtruck's guess that the body-colored wheel arches and front bumper instead of black plastic cladding means this is a first edition or higher-trim model is on the money. As this is a small truck, it'll be interesting to see if Ford uses the XL and XLT names for the base models, but we doubt that a Raptor version will ever be much more than a pipe dream. We don't mind dreaming, though.

There have been rumors that we're just months away from an official reveal for the Ford Maverick, and the truck being out in public like this adds weight to that. We may even see the Maverick debut as soon as June or July, then be in showrooms by the end of the year.