VW May Revive Scout Brand With $40,000 Electric Pickup, SUV

If this is confirmed, then Scout will come back in 2026 as an off-road-oriented US-based EV brand.

By: Andrei Nedelea

May 11, 2022 at 12:12pm ET

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Volkswagen is reportedly voting today on whether or not to bring back the Scout brand as a rugged EV brand aimed at the American market. It is believed the proposal will go through and thus a new electric pickup and SUV player will appear on the scene in 2026.

The idea that VW was looking to revive Scout was reportedly made public by Johan De Nysschen, the CEO of Volkswagen’s American arm, who according to one article published in September of 2021 on MotorTrend, mentioned it during a media event.

The article says De Nysschen saw the new electric Scout International as similar to a Rivian R1S, but with a $40,000 starting price, not $70,000. According to a new article recently published by the Wall Street Journal, vehicles made under the Scout brand will be engineered with off-road driving and ruggedness in mind, in the true spirit of the original International Harvester Scout built between 1961 and 1980.

VW came to own the Scout brand when the Trator Group, which it owns, in 2020 merged with Navistar International Corporation, the owners of the rights to the Scout name since the 1980s. Now the German giant is reportedly looking to sell 250,000 Scout-badged vehicles annually in the US, with the first two models, an SUV and a pickup arriving in four years’ time.

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But will that mean it’s going to be late to the party, given that Ford has already launched a $40,000 electric pickup truck and others from GM are right around the corner? Well, maybe, but given that the market for such vehicles is expected to keep growing, VW seems to think there will still be buyers for its new Scout EVs.

It will be interesting to see how much more VW draws from the Rivian comparison made by Johan De Nysschen. Rivian vehicles have some unique, quirky touches and perhaps Scout will also try to woo buyers its way using a similar approach, but offer a more affordable and even more credible product since it is being backed by one of the world’s largest automakers.

Sources: WSJ, MotorTrend