Today, around 5 p.m. ET, every car page will feature images of two concept vehicles that mark the return of the Scout nameplate, which has been defunct for 44 years. But it’s not like the old assembly lines that were shut down in 1980 are being put back into operation or anyone is blowing dust off the old Scout blueprints. The Scout we’re about to meet is a completely new electric vehicle company. The key difference between the company and the wave of other electric car startups we’ve seen over the last decade is that this company is wholly owned and backed by one of the largest automakers in the world: Volkswagen.

It’s almost too obvious to say again, but for the sake of full context, the increasing prominence of electric vehicles has led to a whole host of interesting shakeups in the auto business recently. We’ve seen some brands emerge and disappear, some truly gain traction, sub-brands of large companies being spun off to become their own entities, and of course a few mainstream automakers developing new model families around electrification and breaking away from the industry split off rest of the lineup.

But a blue-chip German automaker is building brand new U.S. facilities to revive an old American model name as its own electric vehicle brand? This is a new one.

Part of me sees the logic. Americans have an insatiable hunger for classically beautiful trucks and SUVs, but VW has nothing to offer. It also doesn’t carry the right brand image to present one. Meanwhile, Volkswagen’s electric vehicle strategy was a bit confusing (or should I say Voltswagen – remember that?). VW invested huge amounts of resources in such initiatives, only to ultimately switch back to gasoline. The ID.4s met with a mixed response at best, and while people seem to love the looks of the nostalgic ID.Buzz, I’m not convinced many enthusiasts will opt for a $65,000 minivan with 200 miles and change the range.

The VW Group could deploy more attractive electric vehicles, it could leverage more utility-focused offerings in America, and developing a product that offers both here in the U.S. gives the company a chance to price it competitively by avoiding import tariffs avoided. However, I think it’s worth noting that electric trucks aren’t as popular today as they were when VW announced the revival of the Scout. We’ll have to wait and see how the market launch turns out, which is still quite a while away for the 2026 model year.

Why they call it “Scout” is the same reason we have 10 Fast and Furious Films. It’s easier to sell something with a certain level of recognition than to create a new brand from nothing.

How VW got its name

The answer to How VW can call this new creation a Scout, which is a bit more complicated. But I will provide an overview of the history of the Scout and the International Harvester tractor brand under which it was originally sold to give you a sense of the situation. In the 1920s and 1930s, IH built commercial farm equipment such as tractors and corn binders and experienced something of a boom after World War II. Over the course of the century, the company diversified into construction equipment, lawn tractors and, in the early 1960s, an SUV called the Scout.

At this point, the Scout was ahead of its time from a marketing perspective. Decades before SUVs became de facto family cars, the original Scout 80 was a sturdy little ride that could be purchased from farm equipment dealers and, in theory, used for farm work during the day and grocery shopping in the evening.

The truck was primitive, slow and difficult to drive. I briefly owned a ’64; Even by the standards of the time, it wasn’t for everyone. A quickly following second generation (actually more of a generation 1.5) called Scout 800 offered significantly more comfort. But with the Scout II, which ran in the 1970s, the model made a big leap in terms of handling. Ultimately, the Scout II was much more appealing than its predecessors, with full interior space and enough power to keep out of the way.

Still, by this point, the Ford Bronco and Chevy Blazer had entered the market with some major advantages. For one thing, they were objectively superior. And for another, I suspect it was easier for families to find their way to these mainstream dealers than to lure them to the door of an IH store that sold family vehicles alongside combines and tractors.

But what really killed the Scout, and essentially IH, was a five-month UAW strike in 1979 and 1980. The company lost so much money that it sold its farm equipment business to competitor Tenneco Inc. in 1984. Tenneco had a controlling interest in another farm equipment company called Case Corporation, which it merged with the operations it purchased from International to form Case IH. still an active agricultural machinery brand today.

The remnants of International Harvester became Navistar International Corp. in 1986, which became a major player in the commercial vehicle sector in the 1990s and 2000s, selling International-branded large trucks, buses and other vehicles. A number of diesel engines were also produced, including the ton diesel engines found in older Ford pickup trucks.

In 2016, a German truck maker called Traton bought a significant stake in Navistar. Back in 2018, the Germans expressed interest in purchasing the entire company, and in 2021, Traton completed its merger with Navistar, acquiring all Navistar common stock for $3.7 billion. The Scout name must have been a line item somewhere in this deal.

By the way, Traton belongs to Volkswagen. And finally, the points are true: VW had acquired a slightly used, easily recognizable American SUV brand. You may remember this particularly prescient post from ’21: “VW now owns the Scout name and could use it on an electric SUV.” Indeed. Last year, Scout was officially unveiled as a “yes, it’s happening” EV brand, and that’s when we first heard that the company was making a pickup truck and an SUV under the old International Harvester brand name, which was invented more than 60 years ago would bring to market.

What to expect

At the unveiling scheduled for October 24th, we were promised a look at concepts for both variants. A representative from the brand told me that we can expect “approximately 85%” of production specification. I know that’s a little abstract. But that means what we see won’t be the final production form. I’m told that in addition to the vehicles, we’ll also get “a few business announcements and some product specs to expect from the production vehicles,” so stay tuned.

If the new Scout can split the difference between the practicality of a Tesla sedan and the off-road cool of a Rivian for less than a ton of money, we might really have something cool on our hands. To be honest, I’m skeptical at this point. But I’d like to be wowed by a low list price and serious performance.

My predictions for the new Scout: Availability in 2026, base price near $60,000 but only much more expensive models available until 2027, maximum range around 400 miles, at least one trim that exceeds the maximum payload capacity of a Rivian can exceed 2,000 pounds and a gimmick feature for TikTok like a detachable trail scouting drone that sends FPV video to the infotainment screen. Actually, that last thing would be pretty sick. Scout team, you can have this idea for free.

Speaking of Rivian: The company is also commercially linked to VW. Rivian’s people had no comment to me on whether platforming or technology sharing will occur.

More “obscure” than “iconic”

What’s sure to happen surrounding Scout’s launch… I’ve seen a lot of sizzle reels and promotional content using the word “iconic” in the lead-up to Thursday’s concept reveal. An “iconic name”, an “iconic design”… I’m not trying to exclude myself from the reveal party, but there’s a bit of a redesign going on. A classic scout is very cool and can be capable in the right situation. But they are dark – the opposite of iconic, so to speak.

I have owned a 1975 long wheelbase Scout (known as the Traveler) since 2016. People love it everywhere I stop and always ask what year the Bronco is. While values ​​of classic Broncos, Blazers, Wagoneers and classic Land Cruisers have soared over the last decade, Scouts remained dirt cheap until relatively recently. That’s because no one knew (knows) what the hell they were and not all of them survived long enough to be recognized or recovered.

Getting real added value from the Scout brand name will be an interesting challenge for the company. In addition to the “iconic” vocabulary, I have seen many marketing images linking the new Scout Motors with the old Scouts of the 60s and 70s. Anecdotally, most of the comments I saw from fans of the old trucks were complaints about the new one being an electric vehicle. On today’s internet, the grumpiest people are usually the loudest. Still, since I know a few owners of old Scouts, I can’t imagine any of them buying a brand new car, let alone an expensive electric car.

I guess Scout Motors has to hope it can make the idea of ​​IH Scouts an integral part of classic Americana work for its actual customers – presumably people who like the idea of ​​a Rivian but need a little more anachronism, to take part. As for the current maintainers of the old Scouts lining up to finally upgrade, yeah, no, I don’t think that’s going to happen. The whole appeal of an original Scout in 2024 is that it is the complete opposite of digital. However, there is a particularly compelling line in a recent blog post from Scott Keogh, CEO of Scout Motors:

“…we decided to build something where you flip a switch to turn on the lights instead of scrolling through a menu on a screen.”

Switch? A real frame? Maybe the cynics will be appeased after all.

Anyway, the main thing I wanted to do here was to provide some context to increase your appreciation for the Scout Motors reveal – the big auto news of the week. See you soon in the comments section of the “This is it” post.

Want to talk about old 4x4s? Email the author at [email protected].