VW revived the Scout nameplate for use on bespoke electric 4x4s that it plans to build and sell in the US starting in 2026.
With its sights set on established automakers and startups that already have electric 4x4s and pickups on sale, Volkswagen decided to revive and use the Scout name that it got the rights to as part of a merger with another company.
It will be slightly late to the party, since its first offerings are only expected to arrive in 2026, but it will not only try to outdo its competitors in terms of technical specs, but also by playing the heritage and history card.
According to Scott Keogh, CEO of Scout Motors,
The Scout enthusiast community has preserved Scout heritage. Since 1980, these owners and fans have kept Scout alive. We’re excited to be a part of the community and want to foster interaction and exchange as we reimagine this American icon.
We started this forum to nurture an open dialogue with our community members, to hear what they expect in all-new Scout vehicles, and to build a central location where past, present, and future Scout enthusiasts can come together as one.
And we can definitely already see the retro inspiration, even in this very dark teaser that the company released to tease its upcoming off-road EV. It will surely use the classic 1960s International Harvester Scout as an inspiration, which at the time was similar to and a direct rival for the Ford Bronco.
That’s why the vehicle in the teaser may appear to have a whiff of Bronco about it. We know the vehicle being teased is the SUV and not the pickup model because you can actually see the greenhouse actually extends all the way back – you can observe this by looking at the side windows on the left side of the teaser.
We can also see the vehicle has a lot of ground clearance and that it’s riding on what appear to be off-road-oriented tires, although we don’t know if these will come as standard on the vehicle – they probably won’t, even in spite of the vehicle’s overt off-road focus, at least if we look at what versions of Bronco are currently offered by VW’s rivals from Ford.
Scout is expected to begin testing the two vehicles sometime next year, and it may show some sort of concept as a preview. We really don’t know how the company operates or how it plans to reveal its models, given that it is a new player that may or may not do things the way its parent company Volkswagen usually does – VW most often shows close-to-production concepts around one year ahead of a model’s reveal, but Scout may choose to go down a different path in order to help popularize the brand.
Keyword: Volkswagen’s Scout Motors Teases 2026 Electric SUV