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Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

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Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#11

Post by Kon-Peki »

zactato wrote: post #6

I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150. I get the popularity of that form factor, but I simply don't believe that many people are hauling yards of soil or towing boats. 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

> I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150.

The 2023 Ford Ranger will have an EV (or plug-in hybrid, or both) option. VW is using the platform for their Amarok truck. It seems reasonably likely that it may be the platform for the 1st-gen Scout pickup, rather than starting from a clean sheet of paper.

Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#12

Post by kurthr »

actionablefiber wrote: post #7
zactato wrote: post #6

I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150. I get the popularity of that form factor, but I simply don't believe that many people are hauling yards of soil or towing boats. 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

I get the sense that the pickup truck market in the U.S. particularly in suburbs is driven by brand marketing rather than consumer needs. People are paying a premium, in the cost of purchasing as well as in the cost of insuring, maintaining, and fueling, for the image of the rugged individualistic American ready for any terrain, weather, or load that needs hauling, and maximally armored to "win" should they ever hit…

The giant king cab luxury seating is the only thing available on the larger and more expensive models unless you have access to fleet purchasing. They definitely have a market and they've tuned product lines for it. There are even supersport models. Personally, I hate the short-beds cuz you can't easily transport lumber or plywood sheets.

Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#14

Post by rootusrootus »

zactato wrote: post #6

I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150. I get the popularity of that form factor, but I simply don't believe that many people are hauling yards of soil or towing boats. 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

> yards of soil

Very few F150s are rated to carry a single yard of soil. About half that is more typical.

> 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

The market has spoken. Crew cabs were available in the 70s but not common. Now they dominate. Why? Because the average pickup buyer in the US can accurately be described as "everyone." Which means a do-everything vehicle with seating capacity like a car but utility like a truck is extremely popular.

Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#16

Post by josephpmay »

This is actually a pretty interesting story, from a career perspective:

The CEO of VW North America is on vacation with his family, sees a restored classic Scout, and falls in love with it. He finds out that coincidentally VW now owns the rights to the Scout brand, so he steps down from his post to start a new Scout subsidiary.

Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#17

Post by rootusrootus »

jandrese wrote: post #9
zactato wrote: post #6

I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150. I get the popularity of that form factor, but I simply don't believe that many people are hauling yards of soil or towing boats. 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

Non-crew cab is almost extinct. I think there are tax/regulatory reasons for this, but it also drives me crazy that so many trucks have beds that are terrible at carrying 8' long items like 2x4s and plywood sheets. At least with a 6' bed the stuff is only sticking out a little past the end of the tailgate.

I would wager it is only the retail market where the non-crew-cab is nearly extinct. A two seat pickup is a niche vehicle, about as useful for carrying a family around as a two seat sports car.

Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#18

Post by macintux »

Animats wrote: post #13

Nice, especially since Jeep is discontinuing the 2-door Wrangler, and doesn't make it in electric at all.

Citation? I follow Jeep news very closely and haven’t heard any rumblings of a 2-door cancellation.

Electric seems inevitable, however.

Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#19

Post by mulmen »

zactato wrote: post #6

I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150. I get the popularity of that form factor, but I simply don't believe that many people are hauling yards of soil or towing boats. 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

> hauling yards of soil or towing boats

I'm not defending the number of pickups on the road in America but this is an out of touch comment. Some common uses of pickup beds include:

* Hauling motorcycles and ATVs including snowmobiles.

* Carrying campers.

* Carrying home improvement projects such as bags of soil, plants, and raw material such as 8'x2"x4" lumber or 4'x8' plywood. At least in the 2000s a 4x8 sheet of plywood will not fit in a compact pickup but lays flat in a fullsize.

Some common uses of pickups include:

* Towing pull-behind RVs or fifth-wheels.

* Towing boats.

* Camping with the family.

A lot of modern pickups seem to include some kind of bed cover that makes them well suited to mundane tasks like hauling groceries as well.

All of that suggests to me that pickup manufacturers do in fact know their customers.

> 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

Because it's too small to be useful. You can't fit a sheet of plywood in that easily. You might be able to get a small motorcycle in there with some wrangling, but maybe not. 2 seats means you can't carry the whole family, so now you need a second car if you have kids, or friends. And if you actually do use the truck for weekend activity like hauling boats or an RV then you need to drive both cars.

The fact is the fullsize truck actually does work for American consumers. That's why people buy them. And why manufacturers make them.

All of this totally ignores the hundreds of thousands of "work trucks" that are being fully loaded every day. Landscapers, farmers, contractors, etc all rely on the pickup form factor for obvious reasons. And looking around those are often used trucks, including the high trim level luxury versions from a previous generation.

Re: Volkswagen bringing back Scout brand truck as electric vehicle made in America

#20

Post by corrral »

actionablefiber wrote: post #7
zactato wrote: post #6

I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150. I get the popularity of that form factor, but I simply don't believe that many people are hauling yards of soil or towing boats. 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.

I get the sense that the pickup truck market in the U.S. particularly in suburbs is driven by brand marketing rather than consumer needs. People are paying a premium, in the cost of purchasing as well as in the cost of insuring, maintaining, and fueling, for the image of the rugged individualistic American ready for any terrain, weather, or load that needs hauling, and maximally armored to "win" should they ever hit…

> There's a subset of contexts where they make sense although I think for _most_ people they're infrequent enough that it's way more sensible to use a cargo van or a sedan and then just rent a truck during the minority of times when you actually need one.

Even a minivan can tow a small trailer for occasional lumber store runs or towing a jet ski or two. Or just use the roof rack and some tie-downs. Or take the seats out, many of them will fit some plywood inside without trouble. For a larger boat, you can often rent a slip at your usual lake or whatever cheaper than the difference in annual TCO between a truck and a smaller car. Not helpful if you move your boat from one body of water to another a lot, but the only folks I know who do that have small fishing boats that a van could probably tow just fine. Besides, you can pay for several construction deliveries and probably pay to have your boat moved a couple times a year for the difference in annual cost. No sense paying all that extra gas, insurance, and up-front cost for something with features you only use every other month or less, when you can just pay less money to do a daily truck rental periodically, for a delivery service, et c.

But no, people need their immaculate $50,000+ trucks in the 'burbs just to show that they could blow $50,000+ on a truck they don't need, and so they fit in with their buds who also own trucks. Quite a few are purchased for good reasons, but a lot are mostly purchased for social signaling.

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