Ford pauses Maverick orders to keep up with huge demand for the $20,000 truck

• Ford will stop taking orders of its hot new pickup truck, the Maverick, as it works to meet demand. 
• Orders will reopen this summer for 2023-model-year Mavericks. 
• The $20,000 Maverick is Ford's newest pickup truck and its lowest-cost model. 

Ford will temporarily pause orders for its Maverick pickup truck as it works to meet huge demand for the new, $20,000 model. 

Customers will be able to reserve a 2022 Maverick until Thursday evening, a Ford spokesperson told Insider. After that, the order books will be closed until sometime this summer. The Wall Street Journal first reported the pause on Monday. 

Ford is taking the step so it can focus on fulfilling existing Maverick orders. When orders open back up again, customers will be able to reserve a 2023 model. In the meantime, buyers can still purchase a Maverick from dealer stock, the spokesperson said. 

The Maverick arrived in 2021 as a smaller, more eco-friendly alternative to the overwhelmingly bulky pickup trucks sold by Ford and its rivals. It comes with a hybrid powertrain, is about the size of a large SUV, and carries a starting MSRP of just $19,995. Now that Ford has discontinued its smallest sedans and hatchbacks, the Maverick is the automaker's cheapest offering. 

The latest addition to Ford's pickup lineup may have arrived at just the right time. A semiconductor shortage has sent the cost of both new and used vehicles through the roof over the last two years. And the Maverick introduces a relatively inexpensive option that is more interesting and functional than the standard economy car. 

"We didn't want to take more orders than we could build," Dean Stoneley, general manager of Ford trucks, told The Wall Street Journal. "We're getting customers who would have perhaps bought a used car and are now buying the Maverick because it is so affordable."