If you’ve ordered a new 2022 Ford Maverick and waiting for it to show up or you have just heard that it’s manufactured in Mexico, there are a lot of questions people have about how the plant works, how they get shipped to us and how long it takes.
Built at Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, the assembly center known locally as Planta Hermosillo is located about 150 miles south of the US, Arizona border and about 60 miles inland from the Baja Coast. The plant has been churning out new Fords for over 35 years.
In the past decades, we have had Ford Escorts, Fusions, Lincoln MKZ’s and many other models come our way from there. The plant currently builds the Ford Bronco Sport in addition to the Maverick and will also be building the next generation Transit Connect cargo van built on the same chassis platform.
Located on the southeast side of Hermosillo, the plant is surrounded by an industrial supplier park where several independent companies who build on-site a majority of the parts that go into the Maverick.
Companies like Flex N Gate, Lear, Magna, IAC Group, Martinrea and American Axle just to name a few of the dozens suppliers who have facilities surrounding the Hermosillo plant. There are even more suppliers at a manufacturing cluster 780 miles to the south west at San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Many of these companies build the majority of the Maverick’s components at these facilities like suspension, axles, chassis cross-members, interior trims, dashboards, seats, glass, plastic body panels like trim and bumpers as well as electronic components and wiring harnesses.
On Ford’s side, the Hermosillo plant has its own stamping facility where all of the body panels for Maverick are stamped and welded together on site to create its superstructure. After it goes through the paint shop the aforementioned components from the surrounding suppliers are continuously fed to the plant just-in-time for assembly.
If you ordered a 2.0-liter EcoBoost model your engine comes from the Cleveland, OH plant and the 8-speed automatic comes from Ford’s Livonia transmission plant just outside of Detroit. They then take a train ride south to Hermosillo to be installed in the trucks
Hybrid 2.5-liter engines are built in Mexico at the Chihuahua, Mexico plant some 300 east of Hermosillo and 225 miles south of the US New Mexico border. The HF45e hybrid transmission is built in Sterling Heights, MI at Ford’s Van Dyke Powertrain Center. Both are shipped to Hermosillo for final assembly with the Maverick.
In the big picture, while some additional components and parts do come from the US and other countries, a significant percentage of the Ford Maverick is actually sourced and built in Mexico.
Once built and ready for shipment, the Ford Maverick for the most part makes it’s way to North American markets by rail, heading north through the Nogales, AZ port of entry and then fans out in various directions from there.
Ford also has the outbound ability to rail transport vehicles to the Mazatlan sea shipping port on the west coast or Veracruz sea port on the east coast to ship vehicles out over the ocean where it makes sense.
While we have no confirmation they are doing this currently, Mavericks could be shipped via sea vessel to the North West such as the Portland, OR port or the various seaports on the East Coast of the US where it makes sense to Ford either financially or logistically. If anyone watching these ports has intel here, feel free to chime in.
Outside of that, we have to presume most of not all Mavericks are coming by rail. Dealers anywhere in the country will tell you to allow 4-6 weeks for delivery time once your truck is built, but the closer you live to Nogales, AZ the faster you will get your vehicle.
So if you were just curious or waiting for your new Maverick like I am, this should help you understand some of what’s going on south of the border and what’s going into the process from a logistical point of view.
Production scheduling and the wait is such a curious process for many consumers and it’s is because of this delicate dance of global shipping of parts and pieces, and the dozens of various outside supply lines all of which have their own challenges in today’s pandemic and supply challenged manufacturing environment.
