Ford Maverick Crushing Hyundai Santa Cruz In Sales This Year originally appeared on Autoblog.
On the sales charts, this isn’t a close rivalry
Ford and Hyundai’s sales figures for their smallest pickup trucks, the Maverick and Santa Cruz, were just released for July 2025 and the year as a whole—so far. As a reminder, these are the only compact pickups on the market, and they’re two of three unibody trucks (including Honda’s Ridgeline) available in the United States right now. While the Maverick has generally outsold the Santa Cruz, the gap has widened this year, to the point where Ford is selling almost five times more compact trucks than its only rival.
Maverick Sales Up, Santa Cruz Down In 2025
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So far in 2025, Ford has sold 98,078 examples of the Maverick, an 8.9% increase over the same period in 2024. In July, Ford sold 12,022 Mavericks. Over at Hyundai, only 16,532 Santa Cruz trucks have been sold so far this year, a 20% decrease over 2024. In July alone, Hyundai only managed to sell 2,311 trucks. The Santa Cruz’s sales performance this year is at odds with the rest of Hyundai’s range, as most of the brand’s cars have seen sales growth this year.
Even given Ford’s much stronger reputation for building trucks, the gap between the two compact trucks on the sales charts is huge. It’s not as if the Santa Cruz is an inferior product, either; in a recent comparative test drive between the two, we noted that the Hyundai felt more refined and is the more comfortable truck to live with daily. It also has a more high-tech interior and can ultimately tow more than the Ford.
Maverick Still Cheaper And Has An Efficient Hybrid
Although the Ford Maverick is a lot more expensive than it was at launch, its base price of $28,145 is still less than the $29,500 you’ll pay for a 2026 Santa Cruz. The Ford is the most efficient pickup you can buy with a gas engine; in hybrid form, it can hit 42 mpg in city driving, which the Hyundai can’t match. For the 2025 model year, the Maverick benefitted from a slew of updates, including a new Lobo performance model.
For 2026, Hyundai has replaced the somewhat trouble-prone dual-clutch automatic in some Santa Cruz models with a conventional eight-speed automatic. It’s doubtful that this change will have any significant impact on sales, though. The only other change Hyundai made to the 2026 Santa Cruz is to add a new Terrain Mode for the rugged XRT model.
Ultimately, Ford’s reputation in the pickup segment, along with the Maverick’s more masculine looks, have likely contributed significantly to it outselling its key rival by such a wide margin. But with both Ram and Toyota reported to be considering smaller pickups, Ford’s unchallenged position in this segment may not last forever.
Related: Report: Toyota Still Considering Smaller Unibody Truck for US
Ford Maverick Crushing Hyundai Santa Cruz In Sales This Year first appeared on Autoblog on Aug 4, 2025
This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Aug 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
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