Given the early success and the tremendous interest the public has shown in the 2021 Ford Bronco (not to mention its main competitor, the Jeep Wrangler) thus far, it doesn’t really come as a surprise that other automakers might be considering creating a Ford Bronco competitor of some sort. Interestingly, MotorTrend is reporting that one such rival might just come from Volkswagen in the form of a reborn International Harvester Scout.
Volkswagen Group of America Chief Operating Officer Johan De Nysschen revealed this possibility during a recent press event, pointing out that VW actually owns the rights to Scout name via its commercial truck division, which recently purchased Traton, which owns Navistar, which owns Scout. VW could even launch a new Scout under the International Harvester name if it so desired, as Navistar owns the rights to that name as well. Or, the brand and vehicle could both simply be marketed as “Scout.”
Volkswagen recently committed to transforming its entire lineup to electric vehicles in the coming years, so any sort of reborn Scout would be an EV, exclusively, possibly riding on a modified version of VW’s MEB platform which, ironically, will also be shared with future Ford EV models. De Nysschen said that he envisioned such a vehicle as a Rivian R1S rival, but “at a $40,000 price point instead of $70,000.” However, a hybrid Bronco is currently in the works, and Ford CEO Jim Farley recently hinted that an all-electric Bronco may be as well, meaning that this theoretical Scout would also be a direct Ford Bronco competitor.
Like the Bronco, the Scout name holds a lot of heritage, having debuted for the 1961 model year. The original 1966 Ford Bronco was also designed with the Scout in mind, so these two vehicles have quite the history together. With consumer interest in classic off-road vehicles at an all-time high, bringing back the Scout certainly makes a ton of sense, especially since VW has the naming rights and resources to do exactly that.
We’ll have more on this potential Scout revival as soon as it’s available, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
I’m not spending a wad of cash for a glorified cordless drill. Go out 4 wheeling and you run out of gas. No problem because serious 4 wheelers carry extra. EV 4 wheeler and you run out of battery power well……If I saw you stranded out there, I would slow down, make sure everyone was safe, then proceed to laugh my butt off driving away yelling “Good Luck Sucker”. LOL!!!!
Doing the Rubicon Trail? You can top up your EV at Pollock Pines at one of several charging locations, including the Safeway supermarket. It’s about 40 miles to the trailhead, and the trail is under 20 miles, so about 60 miles in total. Range on an EV F-150 Lightning is est. 300 miles with 1000lb cargo, so a lighter Bronco should do at least that. That would leave 240 miles to spare, and there’s charging stations all around for Tahoe on the other end. Unless you are shipping your Bronco to the middle of Africa, I don’t think range will be an issue unless you are profoundly stupid, or in very special cases.
Of course, this summer you couldn’t do the Rubicon because everything was on fire due to climate change. You might be a young pup, but I’m old enough to know it didn’t used to be like this. No fishing, deer herds on public lands are low so hunting is terrible, and the trees that survived are being wiped out by beetle population explosions with the higher temps and drier conditions, the trees can’t fight back. The beetles got a huge pine tree in my front yard, which cost me over a thousand bucks to have removed. F*** your whining about gas cans.
Meanwhile, my gas-powered truck has needed a ton of work to keep running this year. I’ve spent thousands, and that’s doing much of it myself. I’m fed up, fed up with all the parts that can go bad on an ICE drivetrain, the cost of gas, all of it. Never buying an ICE car again, especially when there are clear advantages for an EV OHV: one foot rock crawling with regenerative braking, consistent max torque at all RPMs, no center drive shaft, even possibility for 4 wheel steering like the new Hummer. And peace and quiet.
The great places to offroad are burning or ripe for burning, and you wanna flick matches by not only continuing to burn gas, but also ridicule the idea of an EV OHV. You’re a dumb SOB. But it doesn’t matter, because all auto makers will be switching to EVs only. They will have to make EVs, and it won’t make economic sense to keep making ICE cars to satisfy the few dumb flat-Earthers who fear change.
But, the Nissan model doesn’t have the spare tire hanging from the back tail gate.
Oh great… another appliance with wheels designed for off-road use. Where do y’all plan on plugging it in Einstein?..a ‘current bush’ ?
Next they will put on board a gas powered generator or a solar panel to charge your POS when batteries go dead
Like nuclear power plant waste problems where will all the EV battery waste go? Additionally, as much as I like the concept of EVs I don’t like vehicles entirely controlled by software. Imagine driving through an electrical storm and having your EVs memory wiped out while you’re deep off-road.
As us, the Bronco in waiting fans know, a VW Scout or any Scout fan should not hold their fingers together while waiting. I gave up and bought a Jeep.
Lol! We did too!
For one thing, I don’t think VW can use the IH name as Tenneco at the time (Case IH) bought the name IH. Motor Trend couldn’t figure out what to call the Scout but seems simple to me. Just call it the International Scout as Navistar’s (now part of Traton/VW) truck line is still called International and most people either called it a Scout or International Scout, not so much International Harvester Scout. I am excited about the possibility as I had ’77 SSII and ’79 XLC Scouts and currently have a ’74 IH 200 (3/4 ton) 4×4 pickup. Think a hybrid would make more sense so use as much electric drive as possible but could still get home when the battery depleted.
I think a hybrid Scout would be better than an EV for off roading. Since VW and Ford are joint venturing on some vehicles a new Scout based on the Bronco would make sense. How about a new VW pickup based on the new Maverick hybrid since VW does not have a pickup in the US. This will have to wait for the chip shortage to subside but it would be good.
Why doesn’t Volkswagon just buy FORD and electrify the bronco. They have 150K orders they cant produce so there is profit on the table already since VW can actually deliver product unlike ford.