It’s been a minute since Scout Motors made headlines, but maybe you remember the onslaught of news that broke when the Volkswagen Group announced its plans to revive the iconic nameplate. Rest assured, the project is still well underway, even if plans have changed and the range-extended Harvester models are getting first priority. News that Scout has begun building validation vehicles at its South Carolina plant should be welcomed by reservation holders, most of whom own Jeep Wranglers and Ford Broncos as well as F-150s.
The Drive is on the ground at Scout’s shiny new factory right now, and in a presentation Thursday morning, the startup automaker gave some insight into its customer demographics. With the Traveler SUV and Terra pickup broken out into two separate columns, Scout showed which vehicles most reservation holders currently own. The results aren’t entirely surprising, but they are encouraging for the young brand that has some mighty competition to overcome.
As for the Traveler SUV, the number one vehicle owned by reservation holders is the Bronco. That’s followed immediately by the Wrangler, and the F-150 rounds out the top three. The Mustang Mach-E is the first EV on the list, at number four, although Scout is proud to steal a healthy share of Tesla Model Y and Model 3 owners, as well as Rivian R1T drivers.
The Terra pickup truck, on the other hand, has proven most interesting to F-150 owners—and that’s not counting Lightning owners, as that truck has its own entry toward the bottom of the list. While the Bronco and Wrangler follow the gas F-Series in second and third place, respectively, I’m most intrigued by Model Y owners coming in fourth place. I just didn’t expect crossover drivers to be so interested in this specific Scout that they outpace Gladiator and Tacoma drivers.
Scout CEO Scott Keogh told the media this week that right now, there are nearly 212,000 reservations on the books. Of those, about 87% are for the gas-assisted Harvester models, with the pure electric models making up the remaining 13%. Additionally, the Traveler SUV is commanding 75% of reservations, with just a quarter of committed Scout customers choosing the Terra pickup.
What does all of this say about people who want a Scout? I’d argue that most folks want a more modern version of what they currently drive, without going whole-hog on a battery electric vehicle. That Bronco, Wrangler, 4Runner, and Grand Cherokee drivers would want a spiffy off-road SUV with electrified power is no surprise; and given how many F-150 owners there are in the United States, I’m also not shocked that a lot of them are interested in a Terra.
We’ll have to see how many of these reservation holders hang on until 2028 (at the earliest) when their Scout reaches production. Each one had to plop down $100 to save their spot in line, but that deposit is fully refundable. Scout is working with “real stampings, initial welding, paint, and general operations underway” in South Carolina, according to my colleague Joel Feder, who’s attending a Scout event as I write this.
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