For years, Scout autos have been solely accessible to collectors and fans, as International Harvester reorganized as Navistar, specializing in business vehicles and promoting off its agricultural pursuits. But as TechCrunch reports, Volkswagen has acquired Navistar, and with it, the Scout model, saying plans to launch a line of EV autos primarily based on it. The funding contains plans for a pickup and an SUV by 2026. The design particulars are a bit obscure at this level, as evidenced by the silhouette-like imagery on Scout’s website. But it is clear that as Harvester did a long time in the past, Volkswagen intends to make inroads into an off-road promote it has little presence in, utilizing the model that helped create that market.

There are plans for a manufacturing facility in Blythewood, South Carolina, with hopes to introduce the electrical pickup later this yr, and an SUV quickly after. How a lot these autos resemble the unique iconic Scouts stays to be seen. Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh has hinted that the autos won’t resemble fashionable EVs. “The car will stand up right,” he said to The Verge, “It’s not a jelly bean.” The unique home windows can be saved, the overhang can be tight, and far of the previous graphics and logos can be retained. Keogh hopes the automobile won’t let the expertise inherent in EVs isolate the driving force from the surface world with superior software program, which can imply precise door handles, and as he termed it, “chunky buttons.”