The pitfalls placed in the path of electric vehicle manufacturers by Donald Trump will not overcome scout Motors, swear his management. His tip: playing the card of American patriotism thoroughly, including nostalgia for an era when SUVs were “real trucks ».
This is how Scout Motors presented itself in early January in Las Vegas, as part of the CES, the North American annual fair which relates to new technologies. The manufacturer, who has a factory in Blythewood, in South Carolina, unveiled the two vehicles on site he intends to sell in two years: the Traveler and the Terra.
Scout Motors later announced in January that it had received beyond 50,000 firm pre-order for its two models, which should be sold under US $ 60,000 ($ 85,000 CAN), without purchasing government assistance … and can -Itre even despite possible American taxes on the import of Canadian products.
These two vehicles are intended to be a futuristic reinterpretation of electric motorization, applied to all-terrain vehicles of retro design.
Among their main characteristics, note a body on chassis, a rigid axle at the rear and differential manual blocking. These elements are associated much more with petrol motor trucks from another era than to next generation electric vehicles.
That said, the two newcomers to Scout also have unusual characteristics these days, but which are called to occupy more and more space on the market: let's think about bidirectional recharge and a NACS type recharge taking , inspired by Tesla vehicles, and which seems to become more and more a generalized standard in electric vehicles sold in North America.
Scout also offers the option of adding an extra petrol engine to the motorization of its vehicles. A way to attract people more reluctant to adopt electric electricity. The autonomy of the terra and the traveler should be the same, about 560 km per load in their all -electric version, and almost 800 km per load and by full for the hybrid motor versions that Scout call “Erev” , or “Extended Electric Vehicles”.
Towards and against … Trump?
Despite current political uncertainty, Scout Motors still plans to equip its vehicles with battery made in Canada. Do not say it too hard, to prevent it from falling into the ear of a president who swears being able to build vehicles without any machined parts in Canada or Mexico, but it is thanks to this if Scout thinks he can sell A traveler and a terra at relatively low prices.
In the United States, the average price paid for an electric vehicle is US $ 55,000 ($ 79,000 CAN). An all-electric SUV ready for the US $ 60,000 is not too far from the target…
Unless an unexpected turnaround, their batteries will be produced in Ontario by Powerco, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group. This same subsidiary recently extended 70 million to acquire shares of Patriot battery metals, holding a lithium deposit located in Shaakichiuwaana, in James Bay.
Read the article “Battery sector: Volkswagen invests 70 million in Quebec”
A tenacious rumor in the automotive industry and which has not been confirmed is that Scout Motors could also source batteries with the Northvolt factory in McMasterville. We already know that another subsidiary of Volkswagen, Navistar, is a potential client of the Montérégian factory.
Read the article “The secret client of Northvolt is Navistar International”
Recall, for the record, that Scout Motors is appointed according to the Scout, a vehicle produced in the United States between 1961 and 1980 by International Harvester. The company experienced difficulties over the years, then became Navistar International in 1986, to finally be bought by Volkswagen in 2020.
The world is small, anyway.
Of Volks American -style
Scout Motors' strategy resembles that of another American brand of electric vehicles: Rivian. The new brands have been rare in the North American automotive industry over the past 50 years. Apart from Tesla and Rivian, they only passed – think of the deceased brand Saturn, of the General Motors group.
The Volkswagen group is an obvious common point between Rivian and Scout. The German giant announced at the beginning of 2024 its intention to invest alongside Rivian 5.8 billion US (8.4 billion CAN) in a joint venture which would in particular develop software for the next generation of electric vehicles of the two companies.
It is simpler in the case of scout motors, detained entirely by Volkswagen. The German group relies on a new brand to attract American buyers for whom Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen do not mean much. There is undoubtedly a significant part of the American buyers of cars who swear by brands of their country.
Scout Motors is therefore the most American of Volkswagen brands… even if his heart beats in Canada.
