The original scout.
Both for work and leisure (Photo: Volkswagen)
It's really happening, almost a year after announcing that it would revive the Scout off-road brand that was closed in 1980, the Volkswagen board decided that its plant would be built in Columbus, North Carolina, with an investment of 2 billion dollars.
The plan talks about a factory that will employ 2,000 people and produce at least 200,000 vehicles a year, starting in 2026.
The van was there from the beginning (photo: Volkswagen)
But before that, a little history.
Scout came into the hands of Volkswagen when its heavy vehicle division, Traton, which merged Mann and Scania into it, took over the American truck manufacturer Navistar in 2016.
Navistar is the latest incarnation of International Harvester, the manufacturers of trucks and agricultural machinery, which decided in the late 1950s to introduce a 4x4 vehicle to compete with the Jeep CJ models, which were beginning to gain success among American farmers.
In 1961, the Scout was introduced, a 3-door SUV, which was produced in two generations until 1980. The off-road capabilities were high and it was comfortable, more spacious and had better road behavior than the CJ.
But background before the launch of the third generation, International Harvester decided to close the activity due to financial difficulties.
Since the rights to the name Scout fell into the hands of Volkswagen, Jeep is enjoying prosperity and sales growth around the world, Ford successfully launched the Bronco to compete with the classic Jeep, the Wrangler, and Rivian continues to slowly increase the production of its electric off-road pickup, which will also have an SUV version.
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A vague simulation of the new models, distributed by Scout: a classic van, an SUV may be more daring (Photo: Scout)
The use of the Scout name allows the Germans to establish a new company with a long history, to enter the market with a well-known and well-loved brand in the largest 4x4 market in the world.
Volkswagen hoped to establish a company that would operate more like a car start-up, with production being handled by an outside company, the Taiwanese Foxconn or the Austrian Magna.
But the contacts did not mature, and Volkswagen will build a new factory of its own for the Scout.
There are no technical details yet other than the promise of two models, a van and an electric SUV, which will have their own new platform with high off-road capability.
On the occasion of the board's decision, Scout revealed another shadowed image of the two models, after the first illustration published last year, and hints at a tough van with a classic design, and an SUV with a more modern design.
Audi ActiveSphere.
The concept that hinted that Volkswagen's luxury division also has plans on the Scout platform (Photo: Audi)
One who is already showing interest in using the Scout platform is Audi, the luxury division of Volkswagen, which presented a concept for a high-capacity 4x4 vehicle at the beginning of the year, as a hint of its plans.
The Scout platform could allow Audi to launch a competitor to Mercedes' perennial hit, the G-Class, which will soon be launched in an electric version.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen states that the platform will be exclusive to the Scout, but it remains to be seen who will win the complicated political battles at the German concern.
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