VW Scout

[freebeard]

Didn't see this one coming. Via Slashdot:

www.axios.com/2022/07/19/volkswagen-scout-vw-electric-vehicles-truck

Flashback: The Scout was developed in 1961 by International Harvester as a precursor to the modern SUV.

It was marketed as an all-terrain family recreational vehicle and eventually came in several body styles, competing with Land Rover, Jeep and the Ford Bronco. Production ended in 1980, but Scout SUVs remain popular with collectors.
The back story: The rebirth of Scout as a rugged EV brand was a fortunate accident for Volkswagen.

The company acquired the rights to the Scout brand name in 2021 when its commercial vehicle subsidiary, Traton, bought truck manufacturer Navistar International (the successor to International Harvester, which went out of business in 1985).

Keogh, on a trip to the beach with his kids, came across a fully restored Scout and fell in love.

When he realized "the rights to the brand were just sitting there," he started advocating for a new electric truck line.

Slashdot comment:

Not sure how this will help them (Score:4, Insightful)
by TWX ( 665546 ) on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @05:37PM (#62717018)
Not really sure what they expect this will do for them. At this stage the model name is highly, highly niche, almost no one remembers that IH used to make passenger vehicles. Those few who do remember know that VW didn't have anything to do with IH, and those remaining fans of the IH Scout are probably going to be turned away by the reuse of the model name on a vehicle that cannot claim any pedigree whatsoever to the original.

When automakers choose to resurrect model names for new products it's usually because either they had something to do with the original product (ie the modern Dodge Challenger) or because they bought and operated the whole company that the model had been part of (ie Mini and BMW). I don't see the chosen name helping. They'd probably have been better off paying homage to the Type 181/Kurierwagen/Thing.