The Maverick was originally conceived and marketed as a subcompact "import fighter", intended to do battle with the Volkswagen Beetle and newer Japanese rivals. The Falcon, Ford's compact offering since 1960, had seen its sales decimated by the introduction of the Mustang in 1964. January 1, 1970 the Falcon was discontinued midway through the 1970 model year, and the Maverick positioned as Ford's compact entry.
The Maverick's styling featured the long hood, fastback roof and short deck popularized by the Mustang, on a 103 in wheelbase. Nearly 579,000 Mavericks were produced in its first year.This rivaled the recordsetting first year of Mustang sales and easily outpaced the Mustang's sales of fewer than 200,000 in 1970.