‘Dude, where’s my truck?’ Scout returns as an electric off-roader

Jeep Wranglers, Ford Broncos and Toyota Land Cruisers remain the top off-roaders, but there’s a recent player in town with a name that hasn’t been seen on American roads since 1980: Scout Motors.

At a live-streamed occurrence in Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday evening, Scout debuted two recent concept vehicles: the Terra, an electric pickup truck, and the Traveller, an electric SUV. Both wear styling reminiscent of the International Harvester Scout, a rough-and-tumble off-road truck from the 1960s and ’70s.

But despite the throwback Americana looks, these recent Scouts have German parentage.

Scout CEO Scott Keogh told ABC Audio that Volkswagen acquired the rights to the Scout name when its heavy-responsibility truck division bought Navistar, a descendant of the International Harvester corporation. Keogh said he sees off-road concentrated trucks as a way to develop VW’s trade distribute in the United States, by combining a recognizable name with a growing trade for electric vehicles.

“So – iconic brand, obviously people adore it, and it makes sense to bring it back,” Keogh said. “I ponder the second rationale, of course, is the timing. In result, you have a large shift in the marketplace into electrification.”

The pace of EV adoption has slowed in recent months, but the segment is still growing. recent data shows electric vehicle registrations for the month of August are up 18% from a year ago. That means EVs now account for 8.6% of the light vehicle trade, according to S&P Global.

Even still, the profitability of Scout Motors was unexpected for many who pursue the auto industry.

“Outside a core throng of superfans, the name has benevolent of fallen a little bit to the wayside,” said automotive analyst Chad Kirchner. “To benevolent of resurrect an ancient brand, completely divide of what’s in the Volkswagen holdings already, is a bit of a shock.”

But Keogh said a modern interpretation of the Scout is exactly what many American car buyers are looking for correct now.

“You’ve seen a revitalization of, let’s declare, ‘let’s get America outdoors again’ types of products. Things like the [Ford] Bronco, things like the Toyota Land Cruiser,” said Keogh.

“It’s also not surprising that’s the trade they’d desire to leave after,” said Kirchner.

“I was only very lightly aware of Scout as a brand,” said Tyler Lund, a father of three who owns an electric Rivian SUV. Lund also runs a YouTube channel called “EVentureFamily,” which focuses on how EVs fare on road trips, camping excursions and in household life. He said information of Scout’s resurrection appealed to him less because of the corporation’s heritage, and more because of its plans to construct an EV.

“It was more embracing a different mindset as an electric brand,” Lund told ABC Audio.

“Off-roading and overlanding, that benevolent of lifestyle, was starting to develop in popularity before the pandemic,” said Kirchner, “but once everybody couldn’t leave anywhere where people were, it really started to receive off.”

Keogh said Volkswagen is the “founder and investor” of the recent Scout brand. Earlier this year, the automotive giant broke ground on a recent South Carolina factory, set to construct the recent Scouts once they enter production.

VW already has its own electric vehicle architecture, known as the MEB platform, which underpins vehicles like the ID.4 SUV and the ID. Buzz electric bus. But Keogh said the Traveller and the Terra ride on their own distinctive platform.

The Traveller and the Terra are both all-wheel drive, with electric motors on the front and rear axles. Keogh said those motors can launch the trucks from a dead stop to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, and are excellent for approximately 350 miles of electric range. As an alternative, Scout said both trucks will be available with a gasoline-powered generator that acts as a “range extender,” kicking in to recharge the electric motors when the battery gets low. The extender, Keogh estimates, could add “upwards of 150 miles” to the trucks’ range.

“The globe would have weeped had we just taken an off-the-shelf platform from whatever … and just put a Scout logo on it,” said Keogh.

Earlier this year, VW announced a $5 billion property in Rivian, a recent business electric vehicle manufacturer that makes a luxury electric pickup and SUV. As part of the deal, the two companies will distribute EV platforms and vehicle software.

“Rivian has all the hardware and the software, Volkswagen has all the expertise of actually knowing how to construct cars,” Kirchner said.

When asked whether VW’s involvement with Rivian will make internal competition with Scout, Keogh said the trade can accommodate both brands.

“In terms of the overlap, it’s not as significant as one might seem on the surface, honestly. Yes, it’s an SUV and yes, it’s a pickup truck, but that’s – that’s quite a large, that’s quite a, you recognize, a large area to play in,” said Keogh.

VW’s property in Rivian also infuses the EV recent business with money to produce cheaper models. Rivian said they schedule to commence selling the R2, a midsize electric SUV, for $45,000 starting in 2026. An even cheaper R3 model is set to leave on sale after that.

“So as Rivian adds the R2 and the R3, it benevolent of makes you question, OK, how’s Scout going to achieve? And I don’t have a excellent respond,” said Kirchner.

Tyler Lund of EVentureFamily says he already put down a investment to safety net a Rivian R2. But he also expressed some concern that Rivian, as a recent business, would be able to deliver the vehicle to trade in the timeframe it promised.

“The trade could transformation by that period,” says Lund. Speaking ahead of Thursday’s launch occurrence, he said he’d “absolutely” consider a Scout EV instead of an R2.

Scout is targeting a starting worth under $60,000 for both its models, before federal and state electric vehicle incentives. That’s cheaper than what Rivian currently offers, but higher than the forthcoming R2. Scout aims to commence production in 2027.

Where Scout and Rivian will overlap, according to Keogh, is with technology. As part of the property, VW and Rivian are set to form a 50-50 joint assignment with the intention of developing an EV software architecture. Keogh said that technology will appear in Scout trucks.

“Our vehicle will have a modern zonal architecture … anticipated to be one of the – let’s declare one of the first on this architecture coming out of the joint assignment,” said Keogh.

Technology aside, Keogh said his engineers have made an attempt to preserve some of the mechanical simplicity that the original Scout possessed, with things like mechanical door handles and physical switches.

“I ponder Americans feel with AI, with software in everything, it’s like, you recognize, it’s a little bit like ‘dude, where’s my truck?’” said Keogh.