Scout Motors: What You Need to Know About the New Electric Truck & SUV Brand

The reborn brand’s first model will be an electric SUV, and we’ll meet it in the summer of 2024.

teaser image of scout electric suv from the front

Published January 2, 2024

Volkswagen announced back in May 2022 that the company was reviving the Scout nameplate — you know, the one from the old International Harvester Scout — for a new American electric vehicle brand. Scout Motors will start with two vehicles, a pickup truck and a rugged SUV.

Here’s what we know about VW’s new Scout EV nameplate.

Scout will be an American brand

Scout Motors is part of the broader Volkswagen Group, but VW says Scout vehicles will be designed, engineered, built and sold in America. We’re not sure new CEO Scott Keogh (formerly head of Volkswagen Group of America) will take the stage to Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band.” Still, we expect Scout marketing to convey that sentiment with gusto.

Scout Motors announced that South Carolina had been selected as a site for its new production facility. The brand says the plant will be able to produce 200,000 vehicles per year. Making the vehicles in America should meet one requirement to be eligible for the federal tax incentive … at least, to the extent we can predict how that will work in 2026.

Scout Motors’s first vehicles could be called Hauler, Reaper or Spirit

a car driving on a road with trees and a fire in the background

The folks behind Scout have been busy in the meantime working on filing trademarks for potential vehicle names. Among the 41 trademarks filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2023, according to CarBuzz, are Spirit, Hauler, Reaper, Travelstar XL and Tellus. Of those, Hauler feels like an obvious choice for a pickup truck, while Spirit or Reaper both feel like the sort of adventurous, inspirational names ideal for a sport-utility vehicle.

Scout’s vehicles are NOT using Volkswagen’s MEB electric vehicle platform

VW did release an MEB platform off-roader concept with the ID. Buggy concept. But Scout has confirmed its vehicle will not use the MEB or any other extant Volkswagen EV platform. It will use a newly created all-electric platform.

The new Scout platform design will focus on “ground clearance, approach angles, robust axles, payload capacity and all-electric range” to deliver “credible capability and off-road prowess.”

Keogh did tell Automotive News that Scout’s platform could find other uses in the broader VW family. That platform presumably could be an option if Audi decides to proceed with an electric pickup.

Scout’s electric truck should be big, but its SUV’s size is less clear

silhouette of scout motors truck in a swamp

Keogh confirmed to Automotive News that the Scout pickup will be a full-size pickup, like the Ford F-150 Lightning. (The Rivian R1T, for what it’s worth, straddles the line between mid-size and full-size, so Scout’s truck will likely be a bit larger.)

As for the SUV’s size, that remains slightly uncertain. In the aforementioned Automotive News interview, Keogh described it as a “large B SUV,” which suggests he was referring to the so-called “B segment” of cars — but the “B segment” is traditionally considered to be subcompacts, which would suggest the SUV would be similar in size to the Subaru Crosstrek and Honda HR-V.

Given the size of batteries made with current technology and the fact that the truck will be large, we’re wondering if perhaps Keogh meant something other than the B segment by his remark — and that the brand’s first SUV will be more sizable, in line perhaps with the new Toyota Land Cruiser or Toyota 4Runner in scale. Then again, Scout Motors has also stated its first SUV will start around $40,000, which might suggest a smaller vehicle. We’ll find out more come summer 2024.

Wait, how did VW get the rights to the Scout name?

Good question. Volkswagen’s truck subsidiary Traton merged with Navistar a little while back. Navistar was the corporate descendent of International Harvester, the company that built — and still owned — the trademark for the Scout.

How much will Scout Motors’s truck and SUV cost?

They should be (relatively) affordable. Volkswagen Group of America Chief Operating Officer Johan De Nysschen floated the idea of a Scout brand to journalists before the official launch. He described it as like Rivian, but “at a $40,000 price point instead of $70,000.”

According to a Facebook post from a prominent Scout enthusiast who got early access, VW will provide a wide range of accessorization options, which could be where Scout makes its profit.

Scout Motors is reportedly partnering with Magna Steyr to develop vehicles

VW does not have a ton of experience in the off-roading space. But they have found an engineering partner that does. Keogh confirmed plans to partner with Magna Steyr to build the Scout SUV and pickup. Magna Steyer notably builds the G-Wagen for Mercedes-Benz, as well as several other vehicles such as the Toyota Supra.

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