Before Ford was producing the Bronco and Chevrolet was building the Blazer, International Harvester was making the legendary Scout. It has been 44 years since the last Scout rolled off the production line but the brand has been resurrected under the VW Group and is preparing to launch two all-electric off-roaders.
A new promotional clip from Scout Motors was recently shared to YouTube and if it doesn’t get you amped-up for the brand’s revival, we don’t know what will. The video describes the original Scout as the world’s first SUV, saying that it launched at a time of cultural shift and “was a machine for the moment,” before shifting focus to the owners and enthusiasts who have kept the Scout name alive for all these decades.
“The first SUV – we called it the Scout. That was back in ’61, before [Ford] Bronco, before [Chevy] Blazer, before anybody”, says the narrator, conveniently forgetting about other tough off-roaders like the original Land Rover.
Read: Scout EVs Will Be Rugged, Have Chunky Buttons And Start At $50,000
Scout is now going back to work, re-energizing its vehicles for the modern age and constructing a massive assembly plant in Blythewood, South Carolina. The brand’s two models will directly rival vehicles from Rivian and could usher in a new generation of electric off-roaders that won’t break the bank. Indeed, prices will start at around $40,000, similar to the new Rivian R2, and Scout will offer both an SUV and a pickup truck.
Both Scout models are expected to be underpinned by the VW Group’s Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), albeit a modified version better suited to the rigorous tests that owners will put their vehicles through. Most versions are expected to be sold with dual-motor, all-wheel drive configurations rated at around 300 hp. Both vehicles should also use an 800-volt electrical architecture and offer driving ranges of between 350 miles (563 km) and 400 miles (644 km), more than enough for owners to take them deep into the wilderness.
Production of the new Scout models is set to commence in 2026 at the South Carolina site.
