2026 is on track to be a monumental year for electric vehicles. Carmakers have promised to deliver several new EVs built on dedicated platforms. The year would also mark the revival of Scout Motors, the iconic American truck brand resurrected by parent company Volkswagen Group last year.
We’ve known for a while that Scout’s initial offerings would include an electric pickup truck and an SUV. Now, the brand announced on its website that a reveal is due in late summer 2024. The two EVs will be developed ground-up on dedicated platforms, bearing little resemblance to other VW Group EVs.
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VW-backed Scout Motors makes a comeback.
The Volkswagen Group is the world's second-largest automaker by sales volumes. Its subsidiaries include several acclaimed brands like Audi, Porsche and Bentley, among others. However, it doesn't own a brand that offers what Americans traditionally love: ginormous pickups and SUVs. With Scout Motors, VW aims to fill that gap with electric-only 4X4s.
They would be built for American audiences that love big, bulky SUVs and trucks and also reflect the brand’s heritage dating back to the 1960-1980 period when it was part of heavy equipment manufacturer International Harvester.
After poor sales and low profits in the 1980s, International Harvester sold its agricultural division to Case Corporation, which renamed itself Navistar. In 2021, Navistar was acquired by commercial vehicle manufacturer Traton, thus becoming part of the VW Group.
The German carmaker then acquired the Scout trademark. InsideEVs was invited to VW Group's factory groundbreaking ceremony in Blythewood, South Carolina, in February. VW Group is investing some $2 billion to build a plant for U.S.-focused Scout EVs.
As competition heats up in the electric SUV and pickup segments, Scout has to make its models stand out. Scout's President and CEO, Scott Keogh, confirmed during the groundbreaking event that it plans to do that by offering physical buttons.
Automakers are now heavily investing in integrating vehicle functions and in-car entertainment features such as gaming and streaming into massive screens. Cost savings are a big reason for this trend. But for an off-road-focused vehicle, that might not be ideal, and Scout seems fully aware of that.
That’s pretty much all we know about the Scout EVs so far. But there’s certainly more to come. The brand has been on a hiring spree since last year, with hundreds of engineers working from the new Scout Innovation Center in Novi, Michigan, to bring the EVs to life.
What else would you like to see besides the physical buttons in the Scout EVs? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
