In an alternate universe where the International Harvester automotive brand never went away, you could visit Scoutmotors.com to configure your future electric SUV.
Or in this one. It’s real.
Retro SUV Trend Meets EV Trend
The last few years have seen a whole generation of classic SUVs reborn. You can buy a 2023 Ford Bronco or Jeep Wagoneer – names from when Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House.
They’ve also seen the first electric off-roaders – hyper-capable machines like the GMC Hummer, with its “crab walk” four-wheel steering, and the Rivian R1T, with its separate motor for each wheel.
Those trends will come together around the 2026 model year when Scout plans to release its first new vehicle in more than a quarter of a century.
It’s a project of Volkswagen. The German automaker owns the rights to the Scout name through a circuitous round of mergers and acquisitions. It has decided to resurrect the name, once associated with affordable, rugged off-roaders, with a sub-brand.
A Glimpse of What’s to Come
The new Scouts will be all-electric and built in the U.S. We’re not yet clear on whether the new company will sell them through VW’s existing dealership network or online only. But we do have a glimpse of the first Scout vehicle.
The Scoutmotors.com website launched this week. There, you’ll find a careers section, a forum (where Scout leadership is asking for suggestions on future products), and this – a rendering of a concept SUV.
The shadowy, head-on image doesn’t give us much to go on. But we can see hints that the new Scout may be on the right track. It shows a boxy, upright design theme that could believably be the evolution of the legendary Scout II that left the market in the early 1980s. It shows impressive ground clearance, though the low angle of the photo could be misleading.
Those classic Scouts were convertible SUVs. In the rendering, light seems to shine through roof windows under the roof rack, which could hint at removable roof panels.
Pickup Coming, Too
A press release announcing the site’s launch mentions an “all-electric truck and SUV to carry the Scout legacy into the future,” so we expect to see a truck version as well.
The launch of the first Scout product is years away, so that’s all we get for now. But Scout CEO and VW veteran Scott Keogh gives a shout-out to long-time fans in the press release, saying, “We started this forum to nurture an open dialogue with our community members, to hear what they expect in all-new Scout vehicles.”
