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As a longtime 4×4 guy, I want the new Scout to be a hit. As a journalist, I’ll call it like I see it when the first official concepts are uncovered this week. We really don’t know what to expect as Scout Motors has been quick to hype the trucks but slow to release details, and for a number of reasons, people are skeptical. It’s no easy feat bringing a utilitarian billy goat from the past into the 21st century as an electric vehicle. But the new VW brand’s CEO Scott Keogh insists it won’t be a letdown to the Scout faithful with an International Harvester in their pole barn.
Keogh published a blog Wednesday afternoon waxing poetic about Scout Motors on the eve of the concepts’ reveal. He mentions the history of the nameplate and even acknowledges the “tension” between classic examples and what a Scout can be in the 21st century. But this quote from Keogh stands out most:
“Know this: we are not going to deliver a badge-engineered, jellybean-shaped soft-roader. There are already plenty of those available for people who don’t want or need the serious capability that only a vehicle purposefully designed from the ground up as an off-roader can deliver—that only a Scout can deliver.”
That’s spoken like someone who’s heard the gripe before, yeah? Indeed, Keogh has spent a lot of time in the Scout community over the past 18 months. He attended Harvester Homecoming, a massive owners’ meeting held every year in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the last Scout rolled off the assembly line in 1980. And many more Scout drivers have voiced their opinions on social media, pining for a more traditional vehicle that’s not electric only. It seems safe to say they won’t get that wish, but Keogh is explicitly reassuring them that the SUV and pickup truck will be more serious than they fear.
Keogh added they want to keep “some of the simplicity” of the original Scout, confirming it will be body-on-frame rather than unibody. Off to a good start there, but not out of the woods quite yet.
“We are not going to simply pick up exactly where Scout left off in 1980 with a continuation series or a restomod; that’s not what our customers want either,” Keogh elaborated. “They want us to take the best of the old Scouts and marry it with advanced powertrain technology, modern safety equipment, and innovative software solutions to create a new benchmark.”
Based on that statement, Scout Motors believes its main customer base is different from the obvious group who have owned Scouts before. That might hurt if you’re one of those who’d be perfectly fine with a continuation model of sorts, but it’s a better business plan to gear a product toward a broader audience. We’re seeing people who have never owned trucks before flocking to Rivian because the idea of an adventure-ready EV is enticing to them. You know who doesn’t feel that way about battery power? Traditionalists who spend more time adjusting the carb on their 345-cubic-inch V8.
Nevertheless, Keogh and Scout Motors surely want to persuade both parties to buy one of their rigs. We won’t have to wait much longer to see if he’s telling the truth, either. My buddy Andrew Collins landed at the launch event in Nashville today and a company spokesperson told him that these show vehicles reflect “about 85%” of the production version. We’ll know more on Thursday, October 24 at 5 p.m. ET.
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