 2027 Scout
kfz-tech.de/YVW246
How many brands does the VW Group have? 10 passenger car brands and, as far as we know, two truck brands, MAN and Scania, are combined in the TRATON Group. This alone doesn't
fully describe the TRATON Group, even if we include Volkswagen Truck & Bus.
Navistar is still missing, and it's precisely this commitment that we want to explore a little in this chapter. To do so, we have to go back a bit to the postwar era and focus our attention strictly on
all-wheel drive vehicles.
This is about Navistar's predecessor, the International Harvester (harvesting machine company). No, we don't want to concern ourselves with their numerous successes in helping farmers or
building the famous yellow school buses in the USA. We're interested in the Scout, which you see in the pictures here.
Everyone talks about the Jeep as the all-wheel-drive vehicle of the USA after World War II. People often forget the second, the Scout from International Harvester, which was very successful because it was also
the first lightweight all-wheel-drive pickup.
And after the company had concentrated solely on trucks, buses, and engines following a crisis, it obviously also became interesting for the VW Group, as a strategic partner since 2016 and in 2021 when it
was taken over by Traton.
Navistar is now called 'International' again, returning to its more than 120-year-old roots, albeit without the 'Harvester' name. Production has been in Huntsville, Alabama, since 2023. Within the Traton Group,
Scania arguably has a certain dominance and thus perhaps an even closer ties to International.
In addition to the connections described above, there is also a joint project with Volkswagen itself, the Scout, which is announced at the very top of the video. It is scheduled to launch on the American market
as a fully electric model in 2027.
Actually, there are two models: the Scout 'Traveler' SUV and the 'Terra' pickup. At least as pure electric vehicles, they will boast the latest 800V technology, promising a charging capacity of up to 350 kW. We
don't yet know the motor outputs. The only thing mentioned is 1,300 Nm of torque.
| Steel suspension as standard, air suspension optional |
Two workhorses, the pickup even more so than the SUV, even equipped with a Frank front. It's said to have a payload of 1,000 km and can tow 5 tons (the Traveler's 3.5 tons). The exterior design is fairly
conventional, in keeping with its history.
The interior, however, is quite modern, with a large central screen. Perhaps just the thing for potential buyers in the Midwest. Instead of a glass roof, the Traveler has a folding roof. The capacity of the larger
battery is also not yet known, but the range of 550 km is.
Any bottlenecks at charging stations are intended to be alleviated by a gasoline engine acting as a range extender. The four-cylinder engine is mounted alongside the electric motor on the rear axle, along with
a 57-liter fuel tank, and only increases the range by 200 km due to a smaller battery.
| It is not Tesla that is pushing commercial vehicles into Europe, but rather the VW
Group into the USA. |
So, now you can guess why this partnership is being mentioned today, in 2025. It could be the key to negotiations with the US government: lower tariffs through the construction of a new factory in South
Carolina with 4,000 jobs.
| 
