VW Plans to Revive Scout as an EV
Volkswagen announced plans for an all-electric pickup and SUV under the Scout brand. Read about VW’s expected production time frame and this launch.
New Scout EVs
Volkswagen is launching an all-electric pickup and SUV under the famous Scout brand. The vehicles will be available for American customers after being designed, engineered, and manufactured in the United States. Scout will be a separate company under the VW umbrella.
“The company we will establish this year will be a separate unit and brand within the Volkswagen Group to be managed independently,” said Chief Financial Officer of the Volkswagen Auto Group Arno Antlitz.
Volkswagen will be jumping into the expanding and competitive EV market, hoping their all-electric trucks and SUVs can compete with the likes of the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Rivian R1T, the Kia EV6, and the Hyundai IONIQ 5. Both the truck and SUV will be built on a new technical platform concept that Volkswagen says will bring new credibility to the VW portfolio.
“Electrification provides a historic opportunity to enter the highly attractive pick-up and R-SUV segment as a Group, underscoring our ambition to become a relevant player in the U.S. market,” said CEO of Volkswagen Auto Group, Herbert Diess.
This isn’t the only recent Volkswagen EV announcement. The company made an announcement in March about the VW Bus Returning as the New ID.Buzz EV. Volkswagen models currently sold in the U.S. include the Atlas, Tiguan, Taos, Jetta, Passat, and Golf.
Launch Timeline
A plan like this takes time, so don’t expect to be sitting behind the wheel of one of these vehicles in the near future. The first prototypes of the yet-to-be-named all-electric Scout pickup and SUV will be revealed in 2023. Production is set to start in 2026. Right now, all they’ve released is a couple of computer-generated graphics that give a glimpse of the tentative exterior styling.
Some believe Volkswagen will sell these Scout EVs as direct-to-consumer vehicles, making them available online, but not in dealerships. This speculation started because Volkswagen dealers were apparently given no advance notice of the Scout EVs announcement. The Wall Street Journal reported that VW is looking to sell about 250,000 units of the all-electric Scout pickup and SUV per year. The models could start at around $40,000.
Using the Scout Name
The use of the Scout brand isn’t by accident. Volkswagen hopes to capitalize on the Scout name as they electrify the brand. Between 1961 and 1980, the off-roading International Harvester Scout was a precursor to the SUVs of today. International Harvester was a truck and tractor manufacturer that saw the Scout as an opportunity to compete with Jeep. 532,674 Scouts were sold up until 1980, all assembled in Fort Wayne, Indiana. As Volkswagen moves the strong iconic Scout name into the electric vehicle space, one has to believe the hope is to gain consumers’ trust by using a trusted name. Learn more about the history of this originator by reading The International Harvester Scout: A History.
Most Popular
