I always liked the International Harvester Scout II vehicle. VW owns the rights to "Scout" and they are bringing it back as an EV in SUV and pickup configurations by 2026.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/usa-scout-suv-pickup
Hhh, I hope it isn't as sparse austere as the old IH Scouts.
I was just looking at a Scout in pretty good shape a few weeks ago. I did like them ...kinda reminded me of the Series II Land Rovers as "utility first" vehicles.
>austere
Heh. It will have cup holders. (My Subaru has 19 cup holders.)
I saw a fully restored Scout II here awhile back. It was beautiful I told someone at the time that if somebody brought it back like Ford was doing with the Bronco that it would sell. They are rare up North because of salt/rust plus everyone drove theirs into the ground.
>everyone drove theirs into the ground.
Yeah, Scout I only had about 3 moving parts. Farmers just repaired them in the tractor shed.
New Scout won't be built in Fort Wayne
https://www.wane.com/top-stories/scout-wont-be-coming-home-south-carolina-picked-for-suv-production/
Sounds like they are firmly targeting the Jeep models.
QuoteFirst will be a small, off-road focused SUV that Keogh calls an RUV: a "rugged utility vehicle." The second is a larger truck, which will "lean a little bit more on-road" in terms of its driving characteristics.
https://news.yahoo.com/scout-motors-plans-bring-rugged-165226388.html
Chrysler/Jeep is doing okay in the ICE market but I've not heard any big plans from Jeep about going EV.
I'm glad a major car company is going to try and bring the Scout back, as long as they don't make it too goofy looking.
> targeting the Jeep models
And Rivian, which is getting good reviews for off-road. (But Rivian is showing signs of trouble scaling production.)
South Carolina offers $1.3B to new Scout electric SUV maker - ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/south-carolina-offers-13b-new-scout-electric-suv-97659911
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/17/cars/vw-scout-american-electric-suvs/index.html
VW is reviving a storied American brand to sell electric SUVs | CNN Business
I wonder what the balance sheet looks like for these deals.
David Kay Johnston, Free Lunch, shows that a lot of retailers get them and they are universally bad (getting these deals is the basic business mode for Cabelas). The stadium deals are also usually horrible for the communities in the long term and good for the team owners and sometimes the local construction industry in the short term.
But a car plant just might pencil out. Unlike Cabelas which mostly displaces local existing employers, these at least seem like net new jobs even after the construction phase.
Style wise, the boxier the better but not too big. We have enough monster pickups and SUV's on the road as it is.
It's hard to thread that needle on design between retro and modern but SUV's like the Land Rover and the Bronco just have not excited me. Just a bit too modern.