Revived Scout Motors Unveils Electric Traveler SUV and Terra Pickup
Oct 30, 2024
Revived Scout Motors Unveils Electric Traveler SUV and Terra Pickup
The Volkswagen Group has pulled the cover off its revival of the beloved Scout off-roader in EV form. The battery-electric Scout will come in two versions that borrow names from the brand’s history, the Traveler SUV and the Terra pickup truck.
The vehicles are scaled similarly to the Rivian R1S and R1T electric pickup and SUV. The Scout models have promised pricing that is currently poised to undercut those vehicles, but plenty can change in this dynamic market before the first Scout rolls off the South Carolina assembly line in 2027. The company says that retail pricing will start at less than $60,000 and that available incentives will bring the purchase cost down to as little as $50,000 for base models.
The original Scout was an SUV built by International Harvester in Fort Wayne, Indiana between 1961 and 1980. When the Volkswagen Group acquired heavy truck maker Navistar International in 2021, they found that they also acquired that company’s portfolio of brands, which included the International Scout.
Scout Motors
Now, Scout Motors is its own stand-alone brand, with two versions of the vehicle. Whether with the pickup’s open 5.5-foot cargo bed or with the SUV’s enclosed rear cargo area, the Scout rolls on the same body-on-frame battery-electric underpinnings.
Related:New Tech, Longer Range, and Lower Prices Keep Rivian in the Game
The specifications of that platform remain vague, as production is still three years away. Scout says that the Traveler and the Terra will be available with battery packs large enough to drive 350 miles on a charge.
The Scout features innovative lighting designs. SCOUT MOTORS
Recognizing that even this won’t satisfy people who might spend those 350 miles reaching a destination that has no charging infrastructure, both Scouts will also be available with a range-extending onboard gasoline generator. In that configuration, the Scout can go 500 miles and more distance is available at the nearest gas station.
Volkwagen Group corporate cousin Audi holds the rights to the Wankel rotary engine and that company has previously shown concept cars employing a compact rotary engine-powered range extender that would fit neatly between the Scout’s frame rails.
Capabilities
There are no details on the Scout’s electric motors or the batteries it will use. But the company says the electric drivetrain will deliver nearly 1,000 lb.-ft. of torque and the Scout will accelerate to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.
Among the other promised capabilities are 10,000 pounds of towing capacity for the Terra truck and more than 7,000 pounds of towing for the Traveler SUV. Both will have more than a ton of payload capacity.
Related:The Internet's Grooviest Slideshow of Legendary International Scouts
The Scout Terra's cargo bed measures a conventional 5.5 feet in length. SCOUT MOTORS
Available chunky 35-inch tire will provide more than a foot of ground clearance and nearly three feet of water fording capability. The off-road capability is underscored by the disconnecting front anti-sway bar and locking front and rear mechanical differentials. Stubby front and rear overhangs provide competitive approach and departure angles for climbing obstacles.
Scout is touting the Traveler’s and Terra’s use of a modern zonal electronic architecture. This is the fruit of Volkswagen’s investment in Rivian, which released updated models employing this configuration in June.
“Our customers benefit from the targeted partnership with Rivian to create a leading technology architecture,” said Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume. “Through our cooperation, we will bring the best solutions to our vehicles faster and at lower cost.” As Design News wrote at the time, this change to a zonal architecture eliminated 1.6 miles and 44 lbs. of copper wiring from the Rivian vehicles.
The Scout uses an 800-volt electric architecture, and will charge its battery through a Tesla-style North American Charging System (NACS) connector at as much as 350 kilowatts. Tesla’s Supercharger network does not yet support charging levels that high, but Electrify America’s does and by the Scout’s scheduled 2027 arrival, that network should have migrated to the NACS standard.
Related:More Powerful Motors Drive Volkswagen EVs Into the Future
Goodies
Those kinds of specifications are standard EV fare. What is not typical is Scout’s embrace of the physical and the traditional. That means that the Scout uses mechanical door handles instead of the electric switches used by so many EVs.
Most drivers will be pleased to see a row of physical switches and rotary knobs for infotainment and HVAC controls. SCOUT MOTORS
The dashboard includes a row of physical switches for important functions and rotary knobs for climate control and infotainment volume. And perhaps Scout’s most distinctive feature is the revival of the extinct three-across bench front row seat. Unlike the ones seen in some full-size pickups that seem like uncomfortable afterthoughts, the Scout’s bench seat looks like it was designed to hold three occupants in comfort rather than placing the center passenger on a repurposed armrest.
In the absence of technical details on the Scout’s hardware, this kind of visible focus on the customers bodes well for the company’s execution of those details as its delivery date approaches.
The proper bench seat is unorthodox, but not an afterthought. SCOUT MOTORS