When I think about electric vehicles, I think about California. It’s not just me, either, as automakers know the Golden State is the number one EV market by far. And while manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian depend on California to make up for lower uptake in more rural areas, Scout Motors brags that people in all 50 states want its electrified 4x4s.
Scout is hosting media members in South Carolina this week, walking them through its brand-new, $2 billion production facility. My colleague, Joel Feder, is on the ground and asking questions. (He’s walking the factory floor right now, or else he’d be writing this story.) He spoke with Ryan Decker, Scout Motors’ vice president of strategy and brand, to find out more about the folks who want their trucks.
“When you look at the pins on the map that we showed [pictured above], which is again where we’re overindexing versus all-electric peers, you see sort of an interesting geographic bifurcation in that you’ll see that we’re overindexing in Mountain West geographies: Colorado, Salt Lake, places like that,” Decker said. “I think that’s where you’re seeing the legit off-road capability of the platform show its muscle and its ability to reach there. But on the other hand, you’ll see sort of American classic truck markets, like Texas and South Carolina.”
Allow me to break that down in layman’s terms. When Decker says “overindexing,” he’s referring to the percentage of Scout’s business located in a given state, which he claims is higher in more diverse areas compared to competitors. So whereas Tesla depends on California to deliver the largest bulk of its sales, Scout insists that its reservation holders are spread out across the country.
“Said very simply, the market has recognized our ability to be a true off-roader—Mountain West—while at the same time delivering upon real American truck requirements in South Carolina and Texas,” Decker continued.
Judging by the provided chart, Scout is seeing strong interest from reservation holders in unexpected places for electrified vehicles. A big reason for this is likely its off-road bent, while another could be its range-extended Harvester powertrain options. The truth is that people in wide, open spaces—like Texas—are more hesitant to depend on electricity alone; an onboard internal combustion generator sweetens the deal considerably.
Of Scout’s 212,000 or so reservations, approximately 87% are for the gas-assisted Harvester models. On top of that, 75% of people want the Traveler SUV, with only a quarter of them reserving a Terra pickup. Most committed Scout customers are coming from Jeep Wranglers as well as Ford Broncos and F-150s, showing that legacy brand owners are seriously considering ditching the established manufacturers for the electrified startup.
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