Scout Motors is one of the most hyped car brands of the decade. Volkswagen, Scout’s parent brand, bought the rights to the nameplate in 2020, revived the automaker in 2022 after 40 years of neglect, and made a huge splash in 2024 when Scout announced it would be offering a range-extended electric SUV and pickup truck, the Traveler and the Terra.
The two vehicles, but especially the pickup, are expected to shake up the segment for a few reasons. These trucks may be electric, but they have stuff like a body-on-frame construction with a solid rear axle, plus truck-focused interior niceties you could usually only dream up in a modern pickup, like a bench seat and a column shifter.
Most importantly, the first Scouts planned for delivery will reportedly come with the brand’s cleverly named “Harvester” range extender, a naturally aspirated four-cylinder gas motor mounted under the bed that can stretch total range to 500 miles, and eliminate range anxiety. On paper, it’s the perfect truck, able to deliver the range, payload capacity, and towing capabilities of a gas truck and the instant torque of an all-electric pickup, all in a stylish package that doesn’t need a charging station every 300 miles.
With Volkswagen sales in North America floundering, Scout was seen as the brand’s biggest hope for a U.S. revival. Its pitch seemed genius: Offer a superior product compared to legacy brands, using a name Americans are already familiar with. For a few years now, VW has been saying Scout’s two new revolutionary vehicles would arrive in 2027. Now, according to one report out of Germany, the brand’s launch has been pushed back an entire year, to 2028.
The reason? Well, according to the German-language site Der Spiegel, the huge spending needed to complete and operate Scout’s factory in Blythewood, South Carolina might be needed elsewhere within the company to keep things afloat:
The Scout factory is now becoming a political issue in Wolfsburg, especially since the plant and its supplier park are expected to cost three billion dollars (2.53 billion euros) – money that is urgently needed elsewhere. Construction is already well underway, but the factory will likely not generate revenue until a year later than hoped, assuming everything goes according to plan from now on.
The news comes just one day after a report from another German site, Manager Magazin, reported that CEO Oliver Blume had implemented a huge cost-cutting plan that will have VW Group slashing expenditures at a “completely new and unprecedented scale” following the losses from its failed electric vehicle overhaul.
My colleague Matt covered the story yesterday, but basically, VW is planning to find 20% worth of savings … somewhere. Is it a coincidence that the very next day, we’re hearing about the company delaying the launch of Scout Motors, possibly to reallocate funds? Maybe. But it makes sense that the two could be connected in some capacity.
Der Spiegel cites another reason, though: Software. It’s an issue that VW has been plagued with for years now, specifically when it comes to its EVs. And it continues to bite:
The reason for the impending delay: In addition to the development of the hybrid drive with a so-called range extender (REEV), the software is also taking longer than usual, as is so often the case within the Volkswagen Group. Because the software alliance with the US start-up Rivian has not yet delivered what Scout needs, Volkswagen’s own, itself crisis-ridden, development unit Cariad has to step in.
The situation is extremely difficult for the company, as many hundreds of people are already working for the new brand.
Actually, it’s over a thousand people, according to a statement sent by Scout to The Autopian. In an email to me, a representative stressed that the brand hasn’t made any truly official announcements on timelines for delivery, and that it’s forging ahead on building the brand essentially from the ground up. Here’s the full statement:
Scout Motors has not shared any timing or product update announcements.
As you know, Scout Motors is building on multiple fronts – we’re building a factory, we’re developing vehicles, and we’re building a company. We’re making great progress on all of those fronts.
As a company, we’ve hired more than 1,300 employees to date. Consumer and market reaction to our Scout brand and concept vehicles has been overwhelmingly positive. We’re now fully into the heart of the construction process for our Scout Motors Production Center in Blythewood, South Carolina, which remains on track. Our buildings are weathertight and we’ve begun installing process equipment, including the first robot which arrived in mid-January in the Body Shop, marking another major milestone. Additionally, we’ve begun hiring and training our first Maintenance Technicians who will work in the factory. We’re proud of the progress happening on the ground in South Carolina and across our company as we work to bring our factory and vehicles to life.
When they were revealed in 2024, Scout’s vehicles were incredibly compelling, to the point where my colleague David actually put in a pre-order for one. But as he opined almost exactly a year ago, it’s becoming less and less clear whether the brand can keep that momentum going until 2027, much less 2028. By the time the Terra comes out, Ford’s new range-extended F-150 EV will have already been out for a year, killing any hope of the newcomer breaking into the segment early. Ford’s entry also promises more total range (700 miles versus 500 for the Terra with the Harvester engine) and has the backing of a legacy automaker behind it.
I’m still excited for Scout to start selling cars because I love rooting for the underdog. But I’m a tiny bit less hopeful than I was before.
Top graphic image: Scout Motors
I have an EREV Terra reservation. I feel like the writing has been on the wall for a while, and had already assumed I wouldn’t see a chance at a truck until deep into 2028. I also worry what all of that is going to do to the price.
I sold the Subaru and bought a Ranger last week. Maybe I’ll still be interested when the Terra finally happens, if it finally happens. But every time I look it seems further away, not closer.
When I saw revolutionary truck I thought Slate, Scout is just another expensive luxury vehicle.
I know there’s a lot of pessimistic comments here (for good reason), so let me propose a scenario where this could actually work in Scout/VW’s favor:
Let’s assume that in 2028, there will be a change in administration that will put sensible climate policy back on track, including re-introducing the EV tax credit. Scouts going on sale in 2027 as first planned would be bad, since weak demand would lead to a buildup of unsold units. By waiting until 2028, it would reduce that gap. It would also give VW time to sort out the direct sales/dealership issue.
The current administration will likely be in office for the full year of 2028, with a change in late January of 2029
There’s also no actual guarantee that the regime will actually change (or just change figureheads), but even if there’s a 180 shift to the other party there will be plenty of other priorities on Day 1, if not Year 1.
VW would presumably use that to raise their price pre-intro by $7500 rather than actually offering a benefit, but notably every competitor would also have that so it cancels out at best.
Remember that Tesla introduced the Model Y right when their original tranche of 200,000 EV credits were used up and well before they were renewed without a quantity limit. Pricing was somewhat similar to this and there was no shortage of buyers, Ford was likely licking their chops with the Mach-E figuring they’d have the credit and Tesla wouldn’t, same with VW and the ID4…But as Tesla showed if the product is good/desirable people who have $60k or whatever don’t “need” the tax credit, but the product has to be good/desirable.
The next three years WILL see a lot of EV and maybe EREV development, the rest of the world isn’t moving backwards as we are, if RAM shits the bed on EREV then that’ll turn people off EREVs like GM did with diesels 40 years ago. I wouldn’t really want to be VW counting on RAM doing a great job, and let’s place our bets on how many recalls Ford will be issuing when/if theirs gets out of the gate…
Toyota just announced the new regular Highlander will be pure EV starting next year or so with no ICE or hybrid option at all. All of a sudden the supposed “oh so smart for waiting” EV laggard is firing a completely unexpected shot after relaunching the BZ to good reviews as well as the CH-R. If it succeeds there’ll be other entrants into the space, but notably there’s nothing stopping Toyota from developing an EREV as another sort of Prius-tech variant, yet they are skipping that and thinking EVs might work for them after all in the U.S. and on a mainstream name rather than just an option (although the somewhat larger Grand Highlander will be ICE for now at least) in a fairly saturated segment.
The ONLY thing Scout is trading on is their name and some cool design that looks as similar to Rivian as it does to Scout 1.0, which, frankly besides to gearheads with long memories such as the commenters here, the Scout name doesn’t have very much natural cache with the general buying public as opposed to Jeep and Bronco and the squandered Blazer name. And even the gearheads couldn’t keep IH solvent the first time around, so really there aren’t that many people that interested (IMHO), VW as an owner/engineer doesn’t make me nearly as interested as if for example Honda had bought the Scout name. Would ANY of the people interested in a Scout be anywhere near as interested if the exact same thing had a VW badge on it?
If Bezos gets Slate up and running any time soon and the product is even halfway decent in real life, I think that could poach just enough sales from Scout’s lower end that they wouldn’t ever hit any targets they need to for profitability. I see them becoming just like any one of the Fiskers that have withered on the vine.
I don’t see a ~$30k truck with short range being any competition for this. FWIW I think they’ll both be DoA.
Scout 2.0 is going to end up like Scout 1.0. A lack of money to do it right and eventually the big dirt nap.
Even if they do keep it going, VW has so many issues and so many different things pulling on its wallet that Scout’s going to end up underfunded. And then Scout dealers/service centers will end up like VW dealers in the 2000s – besieged with quality issues, problems with warranty claims and annoyed buyers, and a long slide from beloved icon into mass market malaise with better options for most buyers.
The country doesn’t need another higher-end “brand”. The current brands (both mass market and luxury) have or by 2028 will have that part of the market well covered. Refocus to something like the original Scout and develop a cheap, Slate/Maverick type of thing that will get people talking like they did when the “New Beetle” debuted. Or better yet, VW, just get your house in order over the next half-decade and then check the bank account to see what you can really afford. Just like your buyers.
David has got to be devastated.
Since when it comes to the US market VW couldn’t manage to organize an orgy in a whorehouse successfully, I am not holding my breath for Scout to do much of anything other than lose huge amounts of money.
Yes, VW’s new idea would be to charge the ladies and let the men in for free. NeinVergnügen.
ROFL! Probably spot on.
Who could have ever seen this coming?
I am shocked by this.
Shocked I say..
Also saw that scout was moving a lot more engineering from MI to the SC location
I can see a scenario where Scout folds during the impending post-AI bubble-burst recession and then VAG uses the US plant to avoid tariffs.
Audi Q5, Porsche Macan, and perhaps the to-be-announced entry-level Bentley Butler or something similar…
I’m getting a bit of Cybertruck Déjà vu. Not saying it would have been a smashing success, but had the Cybertruck actually hit the market when initially promised I bet it would have noticeably better, for a couple of reasons.
But hey at least Scout’s parent company’s fascist connections are already long in the past so unlikely to have an effect on their sales when they do finally hit the market, so they’ve got that over the Cybertruck.
I think it’ll be more of a Hummer EV in the end in terms of hype and impact, though that launched in probably the optimum window (chip shortage conditions)
VW’s really doing their best to improve American car manufacturers’ competitiveness relative to the European manufacturers.
GM and Ford should send them an edible arrangement or something.
Not beating or at least matching Ford’s entry to the EREV truck market could be disastrous, then they’d only have branding and product to compete on. At least Rivian will be somewhat out of the picture since they’ve moved on to the R2 and R3 products.
Another factor that helps the decision is that delaying the plant’s opening (and thus, any use of the plant by other VAG brands) may help them in the Scout vs dealerships court case.
These are a super cool idea but they’re basically vaporware at this point and if they’re not coming for another 2 years at this point they might miss their window. When they were announced there was nothing like them, but Ford and RAM could have EREV trucks to market before them at this point…and the Rivian R2 is launching this spring.
Rivian has been hush-hush about the final numbers but the initial drive reviews came out last week and it received nearly universal praise. The Jeep EV thing is about to hit the market and while they probably won’t be cross shopped by TOO many people the BEES woodland and Subaru equivalent are about to hit dealers.
I just don’t think Scout can keep the momentum up any longer. They had already taken way too fucking long BEFORE this delay. Their early mover advantage is gone and two years from now who even knows if the off road craze is still going to be going strong. And honestly it’s a bummer, because Scout seemed to have a really neat product.
Agreed. It’s like the super long roll out of the new Supra. It was teased for so long that people stopped caring. The Scout was really compelling, but it’s off everyone’s radar. I have a deposit on a Scout, but I’ll just buy the F150 EREV instead if it is a year sooner.
While they’ll definitely be competing with the RAM and Ford EREV trucks, delaying by a year puts Scout’s most direct competitor, the Rivian R1 a bit farther out of the picture (Rivian will likely completely abandon the expensive R1 ASAP much like Tesla with S & X). At the ~$60k+ estimated starting price, I don’t think Scout intends to compete with Toyotas and Subarus, and it’ll likely have the new overpriced Jeep EV beat on specs & product.
I think the bigger problem is that the market at such a price point may be too small especially after the incoming post-AI bubble recession that’ll surely hit before 2028. I think they really have to hope that the luxury car brands don’t bring good big-battery-PHEVs or EREVs to their lineups so they can steal away buyers for their unique EREV SUV product.