Interesting Etymology

The word maverick was first used to describe Samuel Maverick as independently minded. Maverick was a Texas lawyer,politician and land baron,because he refused to brand his cattle,cattle which were not part of a branded herd were also known as mavericks. Other ranchers claimed Maverick's no branding policy on his disinterest in ranching plus it allowed him to claim any unbranded cattle as his own,but Maverick's stated reason for not branding his cattle was that he didn't want to inflict pain on them.
With those two definitions in mind for the word maverick,why would a car company chose to name a car Maverick? Would you really want either a car that was independently minded,or not part of a branded herd? Out of those two choices I would lean toward the second definition if I were inclined to buy a car known as a Maverick,but that is just me.