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I know the demographic here skews older, but for those of more recent vintage, International Harvester used to make tractors, combines and other farm machinery, but they also had a line of utilitarian SUVs and pickup trucks under their Scout brand. The company fell on hard times and went out of business some 40 years ago.
Apparently, Volkswagen bought the brand, and is resurrecting it to sell a new line of, well, utilitarian SUVs and pickup trucks that will be designed, made and sold in North America.. and these will all have electric powertrains.
When you think about what a scout does - going out ahead alone or in a small group, operating independently, navigating and exploring new territory, traversing difficult terrain... it was a brilliant name for the IH line. Hopefully VW's new business can do justice to this inspiration.
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 02-16-2024 at 05:04 AM..
My father had a Scout in the early 80’s. We used to run it around desolate areas of south jersey that are now full of houses and roads. What a blast that little truck was.
My father had a Scout in the early 80’s. We used to run it around desolate areas of south jersey that are now full of houses and roads. What a blast that little truck was.
If you mean the kind of largely unnamed sandy fire roads that ran through much of the Pine Barrens, I spent some time on those while growing up too :-).
If you mean the kind of largely unnamed sandy fire roads that ran through much of the Pine Barrens, I spent some time on those while growing up too :-).
Yup right on the northeastern edges of the Pines down the shore.
I always liked the IH Traveler. A longer, 2 door version of the Scout. I'd think it was the direct competition to the 2 door Jeep Cherokee of the day in which I had a 76 and a 77 as both were narrower then the Blazer, Ramcharger and starting in 78, the Bronco! As the shorter Scout was competition to the original Bronco.....or really the other way around as the Scout came first.
Rare as $#!# now, in any kind of restorable condition, much like the old Cherokees. But then again, they were popular on the beaches of the Outer Banks (and I'm sure MD, DE, NJ and MA beaches as well) back in their time.
I think those vehicles were used for what they were built for. So they are rare now.
This was like two years ago though and there's really nothing yet on what a VW/IH models might look like. Original timeline was concept this spring so coming up soon for a planned late 2026 Scout. I'd put my interest at lukewarm. It's heavy on the nostalgia which is cool but it could also just end up being an ID.4 with a body kit which would totally suck.
This was like two years ago though and there's really nothing yet on what a VW/IH models might look like. Original timeline was concept this spring so coming up soon for a planned late 2026 Scout. I'd put my interest at lukewarm. It's heavy on the nostalgia which is cool but it could also just end up being an ID.4 with a body kit which would totally suck.
So that Hemmings article was written less than 2 years ago, and they recently broke ground on a new factory in Columbia, SC that's going to build these "Scouts" - site design rendering is shown below. What makes you think it's going to be "an ID.4 with a body kit"? From what I have read, the design reveal of the first model is due this summer still, and they are not going to build a 1970s vehicle, but in some sense, they are trying to honor the tradition, perhaps to a fault - I have read that the first pickup and SUV will be body-on-frame vehicles. While this will be a subsidiary of Volkswagen, it is said to be created to operate with considerable autonomy, in some ways like an independent startup.
I didn't, which is why I'm lukewarm on it thus far. I would not be lukewarm about an ID.4 with a body kit as that would, as I said, suck. As far as why it might happen, economics. Either they're planning on turduckening a T6 (Ranger) or doing their own platform. Both are ambitious and the landscape is littered with EV startups. If the choice is them or ID.4 body kit... I'd probably do an ID.4 body kit too.
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