We have known for a long time that this was the case at Volkswagen plans to revive the Scout nameand this week, Finally we could see the first two vehicles planned for the new electric car manufacturer – an SUV and a pickup. It remains to be seen whether Scout will be a success once production begins in 2027, but aside from looking cool, they also have the distinct advantage of being able to be sold directly to the customer without the need for a third-party retailer. As you can imagine, traders are not happy about this. Not a bit.

Automotive News Reports Mike Stanton, CEO of the National Automobile Dealers Association, believes Scout’s decision to cut out the middlemen is a mistake that will be “challenged.” Meanwhile, Charlie Hall, chairman of the Volkswagen National Dealer Advisory Council, told AutoNews that Volkswagen did not inform them before the Scout announcement.

“Assuming they go down this other path, let’s face it, there will be challenges and problems for them virtually everywhere in the country,” said John Devlin, chairman of the Automotive Trade Association Executives 2024 Car News. “My colleagues across the country will not simply give in.”

Whether their legal challenges will be successful or not is still entirely uncertain, but it is worth noting that Scout was founded as a separate company and dealers already knew as of May 13, 2022 that they would not be entitled to the automatics manufactured by Scout Vehicles. While it’s understandable that they would be disappointed if they didn’t get the pickup they’d wanted for years, it’s not like Volkswagen changed its mind after promising they’d sell all Scouts could go into production as soon as they were gone. Still, traders have no plans to give it up.

“Why shouldn’t the best, most effective value proposition for selling vehicles to customers be your first choice?” asked Devlin Car News. “And why would you reject a distribution and sales system that already exists?”