Posted on 05/27/2023 7:12:35 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
“Made in America by Americans, an American brand is a powerful thing, and we’re excited about it,” Scout Chief Executive Officer Scott Keogh told The Wall Street Journal this year after closing the deal to locate Scout’s first manufacturing plant in South Carolina.
“This is going to put us right into the heart of the action,” he added.
...A few months after the Navistar acquisition, in March 2021, VW’s management board held a strategy conference at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, and laid the groundwork to resurrect the Scout brand as a rugged all-electric SUV and pickup truck, according to company officials. Then, last year, VW announced its plan to revive the brand as a fully-owned independent American subsidiary with local management centered around an iconic American vehicle—a first for VW.
Scout dates back to the late 1950s, when Ted Ornas, an auto designer for International Harvester, designed the company’s first Scout, a four-wheel-drive recreational vehicle, something that didn’t exist at the time.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Achtung Baby
From the article. The Jeep was for the military, but the Scout was the first civilian SUV,” said John Gunnell, a 75-year-old former editor of Old Cars Weekly.
The jeep was produced for civilian and ag use right after the war. They made 4wd wagons and pickups starting in 1948.
—”Unless it is an ICE, forget it.”
Then why bother reading an article about EVs?
Who’s gonna take an EV off road? I wouldn’t ford a stream or take on any obstacles which could upend it or crack the battery case.
So you run out of juice 40 miles in.....how does one recharge. Get a battery dropped in by drone?
Idea musta’ been cooked up by the same people who cooked up the hyped tdi mileage claims, then cheated on the smog testing software. Supposed to get 50 or so mpg highway...got about 44. Chevy Cruze diesel got 52 mpg highway rated. Reports of manual trans. getting 70 mpg.
My mechanic tells me vw requires special tools for repair. Hates working on them. Says the reason there are so many vws for sale is that once warranty runs out...people get rid of them. If vw wants to get inroads into usa....needs to create modern tech version of the bug. Simple, easily repairable, and durable.
End of verbose rant.
That’s because they kept the rolled steel outside. The ones that rusted away the quickest were the ones that got rained on the most before the parts were made.
That ship had sailed even by the mid-70s, at least the simple and easily repairable part. Wish I still had my VWs from the 1960s.
—”Bring back The Thing!”
I purchased a new bright orange VW THING in 1974.
It was fun!
And I wish I had kept it, along with my 1968 P-1800s and a most unusual Suzuki 360 “Jeep” with a 2-cycle 2-cyl 360cc engine.
Never enough garage space!
Thanks for the link.
Digging down...
https://scoutmotors.community.forum/threads/volkswagen-announces-the-return-of-the-scout-brand.4/
Yeah. No.
Scouts, like Jeeps, were/are rugged, minimalist vehicles.
Lithium-powered AI vehicles are not minimalist vehicles.
—”Who’s gonna take an EV off road? “
I have owned a few 4wds and been on some exciting trails.
That said, here in DuPage County 90%+ of 4WDs (not AWD), NEVER GO OFF THE PAVEMENT, EVER!
IIRC AAA has some recharge vehicles able to respond. Probably ICE with battery pack rechargers on the back.
You betcha !
That possibility is how the headline grabbed me :-)
BIG thumbs up on that !
—”Lithium-powered AI vehicles are not minimalist vehicles.”
Automobiles are all about marketing and perceptions, what is in style.
The Ford Pinto sold well!
Make them with manual transmissions, manual transfer cases, crank windows, and without a bunch of electronic BS that eventually fails snd costs thousands to replace, if the parts are even available.
The IH Travelall was an amazing vehicle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Travelall
My dad had the 1968 version.
Electric? Utter nonsense.
I was about 10-11 years old and went deer hunting with my dad. There were about a half dozen other friends in the group and dad and I rode in a guy's Scout to get to the hunting area in the back country. Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico. We stayed in a motel in Clayton, NM.
So…. Up before daylight, drove some miles on pavement, some miles on forest service road, hit the 4wd trail for up a mountain and down a mountain to a valley and finally took an arroyo for awhile to begin the hunt.
Now…. The Scout…. At the end of the day, we headed back up the arroyo and climbing out it the Scout high centered and scraped off all the linkages, clutch, transmission and transfer case. So, we were on the wrong side of the mountain and 25-30 miles from town.
Stuck in low range and 2nd gear. The Scout started in gear then did the up and down the mountain 4wd trail, forest service road and pavement in 2low. Slow, long and noisy!
The Volkswagen Rabbit was made and marketed exclusively for homosexuals.
The Beetle prior to that, was a forerunner in homosexual advertising but they realized that it was not easy to engage in sodomy while “riding” in the “back” of those things.
Volkswagen is the preeminent brand of degenerate homosexual products, and they are proud of it.
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