VW’s electric adventure truck spinoff, Scout Motors, will reveal its first vehicle on October 24.
Two years ago, VW announced that it would resurrect the classic International Harvester Scout brand as an electric adventure vehicle, aiming for a similar niche as Rivian.
The original Scouts were built in the 60s and 70s, and the last Scout rolled off the line 44 years ago now. So it’s been quite the wait to see the brand come back.
Scout sent out an email today announcing that it’s hosting a big reveal on October 24 – a little later than the “this summer” target they previously had, but hey, what’s a couple weeks in the EV world?
Here’s the text of an email sent out by Scout about the reveal:
Fans, Friends, and Followers,
They say the best things come to those who wait. After two years of dreaming big and pushing boundaries, we’re ready to show the world the next generation of Scout vehicles. On October 24, 2024 – 44 years after the last Scout II™ rolled off the line – we’ll officially reveal our new Scout SUV and truck concepts.
While you won’t see a lot of teasers or taillights from us between now and October 24, here’s what I can tell you. Like the originals, you’ll know a Scout vehicle when you see one. A bold, iconic design featuring multifunctional spaces for gathering and connection. Built for work and play, our new Scout SUV and truck will be rugged, capable, and versatile. They have to be in order to credibly don the Scout badge. And with real tactile controls and real feel, they’ll meet the needs of Americans on the road and way off.
Building not only cars but a company and factory from the ground up can certainly feel like a herculean task, but what we’ve learned these past few years is quite simple. When you put American ingenuity back to work, anything is possible. We couldn’t be prouder to create American jobs and produce this awesome connection machine that will bring people together and closer to the experiences that mean the most to them.
If you’ve ever owned, driven, or even seen a Scout truck, you know it’s so much more than a vehicle or brand. It’s a way of life. Cheers to the remarkable community that has kept the hardworking scout spirit alive for decades and all the makers, doers, and everyday explorers. Our new Scout vehicles are for you.
October 24 can’t come soon enough!
Scott Keogh
President & CEO, Scout Motors
While Scout does say that we won’t see a lot of teasers between now and the reveal, we do have a few teasers we’ve already seen.
When VW originally announced the brand, we did get these design sketches showing the car and its very Rivian-like look:
And we’ve also gotten a silhouette teaser in the interim, where the vehicle shows a little bit more classic look, in particular the characteristic hood design:
And we’ve even gotten a teaser of the vehicle “in the wild,” though again in double silhouette form:
And finally, there’s the new minor teaser today available on Scout’s website, and which you can see as the featured photo at the top of this article. This shows a short animation of a compass embedded into the roof of the vehicle, suggesting that this will become a characteristic feature for Scout.
This new teaser jives with something mentioned in the email sent out today – that Scout will focus on “real tactile controls,” suggesting the brand may shy away from the all-digital cockpits that have become common on modern vehicles, particularly electric vehicles.
These touchscreen interfaces are easy to manufacture and allow for deep over the air updates of the system, a feature which consumers like – but are more distracting or confusing to use, which can turn off new owners. It will be interesting to see what balance Scout strikes – especially given VW’s recent investment in Rivian for software help, which is additionally interesting given that Scout seems targeted directly at the same niche Rivian is in.
So far, we don’t know much about the unveiling other than what we’ve said above, but we do know the vehicles probably aren’t coming for a while. Scout is building a factory in South Carolina, which just broke ground in February. So, not only does that factory need to be built, but it needs to be tooled and start building cars – which will all take a while.
But we’ll find out more next month about what Scout has in store for us. Stay tuned for on the ground coverage from the reveal event.
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