All the news about Scout Motors, a classic SUV brand gone electric – The Verge

VW and Audi dealers are suing Scout over its no-dealers plan

2025-02-05T12:17:57-05:00

A coterie of Florida car dealers filed a lawsuit this week against Scout Motors over its direct-to-consumer sales model. The complaint alleges that Scout, which operates under the Volkswagen Group, is in violation of Florida law which blocks automakers from trying to bypass dealers by selling directly to consumers.

The suit, which was filed by nearly two dozen Audi and VW dealers, asserts that Scout's plan to sell its vehicles in Florida is "unlawful" since it has yet to secure a license from the state's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The dealers are seeking a court injunction blocking Scout from selling directly to Flori …

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Scout Motors’ plan to ditch dealers is exactly what customers want

2024-10-28T14:30:56-04:00

Less than 12 hours after Scout Motors unveiled a pair of buzzy electrified vehicles last week, car dealers started threatening lawsuits.

Scout, which is backed by Volkswagen, thinks that dealers are history. It would rather sell its EVs directly to consumers, following in the footsteps of Tesla, Rivian, and Polestar in completely rethinking the business of car selling. But unlike those brands, it's doing so while receiving financial support from an incumbent automaker: VW.

But if the company is nervous about challenging a century-old business model, it isn't showing it.

"Scout is a 100 percent separate brand, separate entity, separate st …

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Scout Motors mounts an electric comeback with new SUV and truck concepts

2024-10-24T18:30:00-04:00

Decades ago, Scout Motors helped introduce America to the "sport utility vehicle," a quirky new automobile that would eventually come to dominate our roads. The brand went bust in 1980 - but now, it's back, and it's all-electric.

Scout, which is now an independent company under the Volkswagen Group, introduced its first new-concept vehicles today: the Terra truck and the Traveler SUV. Both vehicles are body-on-frame, sitting on top a brand-new EV platform unique to Scout. And both could start at under $60,000 (without incentives) when production begins in 2027.

But beyond the novelty of launching a new EV brand when sales are still struggl …

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VW will invest up to $5 billion in Rivian as part of new EV joint venture

2024-06-25T16:20:52-04:00

Volkswagen is investing $1 billion in Rivian as part of a new joint venture that will give the German auto giant access to the buzzy California EV company's software and EV platform. Rivian will receive an additional $4 billion over time, for a total sum of $5 billion.

The joint venture will be co-owned by Rivian and VW Group, which oversees brands like Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and its flagship Volkswagen. The two companies will introduce vehicles developed from the joint venture in the "second half of the decade," they announced.

The new venture was announced in a post from Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, who noted the investment will help the …

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Scout Motors wants to put the ‘mechanical’ back into electric trucks

2024-02-15T12:00:00-05:00

“The godfather is returning,” Scout CEO Scott Keogh said. “If you think about it, Scout sort of invented the segment.” | Image: Scout

Typically, when there's a groundbreaking ceremony for a new factory, all the executives line up with their commemorative golden shovels and pose for photos throwing the first patch of dirt.

But Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh didn't want to play any "fake shovel games" for the groundbreaking of his company's new factory outside Columbia, South Carolina.

Instead, the team found a brick from the old International Harvester factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the original Scout SUVs were manufactured from 1961 until the brand was discontinued in 1980. That brick will serve as a launch point for the electric rebirth of Scout in the US, as well …

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Volkswagen names a new CEO to run its electric truck and SUV spinoff Scout

2022-07-19T19:05:30-04:00

The electric rebirth of Scout, the classic off-road SUV brand, is getting real this week as Volkswagen names Scott Keogh as CEO of its new spinoff company. The former head of VW Group America, as initially reported by Axios, pushed for VW to start a new electric truck line after seeing a fully restored vintage Scout: "the rights to the brand were just sitting there," Keogh said.

VW acquired the Scout brand through a 2020 merger of its commercial trucking company Traton with Navistar, which the German automaker initially bought part of in 2016. In May, it was reported that VW Group is willing to pump $1 billion into the new Scout brand and s …

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Volkswagen reportedly will resurrect Scout as an off-road EV brand for the US

2022-05-11T11:32:50-04:00

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The first model, a 1961 Scout 80, in pickup style with removable hardtop. | Dutchtower

Volkswagen is considering resurrecting the SUV pioneer Scout as an off-road electric vehicle brand, according to TechCrunch. The brand would be focused on the US market, where it would likely compete with popular nameplates like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco.

According to TechCrunch, VW's board of directors is set to approve the plan on Wednesday. The plan envisions Scout operating as a subsidiary of VW, much like Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley.

A VW spokesperson declined to comment, noting that the report refers to actions taken by Volkswagen Group's supervisory board. VW CEO Herbert Diess later confirmed the news, acc …

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