Volkswagen Could Revive The Scout Name

Volkswagen is one of the world's biggest automakers, with a massive range of vehicles fromthe tiny and forbidden Poloto the massive Atlas SUV. Despite having so many vehicles under its banner, the German brand is expanding with its ID. range of electric vehicles that includes theID.4andID.X electric hot hatch. But even that isn't enough for VW. Last year, we heard the news that Volkswagen may be interested inbuying the long-dead Scout namefor an off-road SUV. According to MotorTrend, those plans have now progressed, and we could be seeing VW build a new electric off-roader with the Scout name attached to it.

To explain how VW got there, we need to explain some of its subsidiaries. VW owns Traton, which itself is a conglomerate of the MAN, Scania, and Navistar brands. Navistar was founded back in 1986 as a successor to the old International Harvester company that built the original Scout SUV. To this day, it still owns the trademark. Traton bought Navistar early in July this year for $3.7 billion, so by extension, Volkswagen now owns the rights to the Scout name. However, it seems unlikely that the Scout name would be added to the VW portfolio directly. Instead, it seems much more likely that Volkswagen will sell the possible Scout model under a different banner and in different dealerships.

With the remarkable success experienced by new retro off-roaders like theFord Bronco, Volkswagen may look to cut its own slice of the pie but with a unique knife, namely an electric powertrain. We'll obviously have to wait for official announcements before we can speculate much further, but for now, it seems that the best way for VW to make use of the Scout name is as a standalone brand with pure electrification. Whatever actually happens, we'd be happy to see the revival of an old-school name whose sole purpose is to take passengers off-road in the simplest (and cleanest) manner possible.