Scout Motors is celebrating an electric comeback with new SUV and truck concepts

Decades ago, Scout Motors helped introduce America to the “sport utility vehicle,” a quirky new automobile that would eventually dominate our roads. The brand went bankrupt in 1980 – but now it's back, purely electric.

Scout, now an independent company within the Volkswagen Group, today presented its first new concept vehicles: the Terra Truck and the Traveler SUV. Both vehicles are body-on-frame vehicles based on an all-new EV platform exclusive to Scout. And both could start at under $60,000 (excluding incentives) when production begins in 2027.

But aside from the novelty of launching a new electric vehicle brand while sales are still faltering, and on the eve of a key election that could decide the future of the auto industry, Scout is trying to sell something no one else has has really tried before: a real throwback that also feels modern and fresh.

“It’s such a simple concept but hard to execute,” said Scout CEO Scott Keogh, defining it as “heritage meets ingenuity.”

Before we get to the story of the Scout comeback, let's take a look at the specs, because there are some real dorks here:

• Body-on-frame chassis, solid rear axle and front and rear mechanical locks for off-road performance
• Expected towing capacity of over 7,000 pounds for the Scout Traveler and over 10,000 pounds for the Scout Terra, both with a payload of nearly 2,000 pounds
• Estimated acceleration from zero to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, enabled by an estimated 1,000 pound-feet of torque from all-wheel drive
• Vehicle software based on modern zone architecture, enabling over-the-air updates and remote diagnostics
• Bi-directional charging and vehicle-to-home capabilities
• An all-electric trim with up to 350 miles of range and an extended range model with more than 500 miles of range through a gasoline-powered range extender

There are a lot more, including a removable cabana roof, optional front and rear bench seating, and plenty of tactile touchpoints like mechanical door handles, grab handles, and large, chunky dials and switches.

When I first spoke to Keogh earlier this year, he told me he didn't want to build another hyper-minimalist electric car equipped with touchscreens, glass surfaces and haptic buttons. He wanted to create something real and mechanical – something you could grasp and feel connected to.

“There is definitely a large segment that wants to bring some of the heritage forward,” he said this week. “You don't want to be isolated from the car… you want to have real switches. They want a mechanical feel and feel.”

Keogh says the company calls it “Connection Machine” – a term it apparently wants to trademark. The idea is that when you're behind the wheel, racing through gravel or racing up a 100 percent grade, you're connected to the car through the physical act of driving, but also to your passengers who are bumping into each other on the same bench.

However, there are numerous design and technology options that prove that Scout has its sights firmly set on the horizon. Incorporating a zonal architecture rather than a domain-like electrical setup will help ensure the vehicles have plenty of “headroom” for future updates, Keogh said, reducing costs not only on the manufacturing side but also for owners through reduced costs Maintenance costs.

Zonal architecture is still relatively niche in the automotive industry. Tesla has been doing this for years, but most automakers use domain architectures with dozens of electronic control devices that control everything from power windows and airbags to braking.

Rivian recently switched to a zone system when it launched the next-generation versions of its R1 vehicles. And VW (which owns Scout) made a point of licensing Rivian's “zone hardware design” when it announced its plan to invest $5 billion in the electric vehicle company.

Scout had the advantage of starting “with a clean sheet,” Keogh told me. “All of these things sound pretty insignificant, but setting up your IT architecture without a legacy system – that’s huge.”

Another thing that caught my attention was the news that the Terra and Traveler would be built on “an all-new and proprietary body-on-frame platform.”

The fact that Scout would develop its own platform rather than borrow VW's “MEB” modular electric vehicle platform may seem strange to some, considering how expensive and labor-intensive it is for a brand new company to develop its own bespoke platform . Sharing platforms is common, especially when trying to spin up an entirely new production line. (The Audi RS E-tron GT, for example, is based on the same platform as the Porsche Taycan.)

Of course, VW has been through its own problems with electric vehicles. The company's plug-in models are selling well, but market share in North America is shrinking. And its software has been plagued by bugs and customer complaints.

But Keogh assured me that Scout isn't trying to ignore its advantages over some of its competitors. The company wants to maintain its individuality, but still share some components such as drive units and other modules with the parent company. Considering VW has never competed in the off-road segment before, Scout will take these components and put them together into something that can handle the toughest conditions.

“The last thing we want to do is grab a 100 percent carryover platform with all modules,” Keogh said, “because then we would be a badge.” And Scout won’t work as a badge at all.”

The integration of a gas-powered range extender will certainly raise some eyebrows. At a time when car buyers are switching to hybrids in droves, Scout certainly could have gone that route and no one would have complained. Instead, the company decided to install a small gas-powered generator that charges the battery rather than powering the engine.

The reason for this was twofold. First, electric trucks have historically had range issues when hauling heavy payloads or towing large items. Scout needs to convince truck buyers that they can do all the truck stuff they love without sacrificing range. The other reason is that Keogh firmly believes that electric vehicles are the future, and he wanted a vehicle that prioritized battery performance while still offering a hint of fossil fuel fuel to ease range anxiety.

“It introduces the buyer to electrification on their American terms,” he said.

The look of the Terra and Traveler will be immediately recognizable to many people. It successfully combines designs from Ram, Jeep, Range Rover and Rivian (the Scout's chief designer comes from Stellantis and BMW) while maintaining the same iconic appearance of the original International Harvester Scouts from the 1960s and 1970s.

Keogh said the goal is to land somewhere between avant-garde and security. In other words, not too dystopian like the Tesla Cybertruck, but not overly familiar like the Ford F-150 Lightning.

“I think it has its own attitude and its own world,” he said. “But of course when you see little glimpses of the Range Rover, little glimpses of Rivian, little glimpses of Ram and a little bit of Scout, okay, that sounds cool to me.”

Scout already has a storied history – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is a fan – and now the next chapter is being written.