USA, the rebirth of the famous Scout pickup truck

The American dream is built on legendary names that become part of the lifestyle, passed down from generation to generation. This dream is also represented by industrial icons that, due to sudden market trends or other reasons, disappear overnight. Yet, like magic, they are reborn. This is exactly what is about to happen with the legendary Scout pickup truck. But let’s take it one step at a time.

The collection of sports cars, the American Muscle of the Sixties and Seventies, still has many names that have remained off, with the closure of production plants and jobs lost or relocated, such as the Pontiac GTO, the Mercury Cougar, the Chrysler Plymouth Barracuda, the Chevrolet Chevelle SS. Others, however, such as the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Corvette, after a long period of general disinterest and anonymous design, are now in great shape.

Other cars, less muscular but more popular, have remained in the albums of memories. For example, the Checker Cab. This taxi also called Checker Marathon dominated the streets of large cities from Chicago to New York, coloring them yellow and the characteristic black and white checkered stripe along the sides of the car, at the time a real limousine. When, in 1982, the last Checker Cab left the Kalamazoo, Michigan, plants closed due to economic difficulties, a piece of America went away along with thousands of jobs, leaving an entire area in search of a new dream, partly found with the development of the educational sector and sports activities related to colleges. In those same years, a couple of hours’ drive from Kalamazoo, in Fort Wayne (Indiana), another symbol of the previous 20 years was going out of production, the Scout pickup truck.

First marketed in 1960, the legendary Scout pickup truck quickly became one of the icons of the American automotive industry. Over 25 years, 532,674 models rolled out of the Fort Wayne factory, cementing the vehicle’s place in the collective imagination as a work vehicle ideal for transporting tools and heavy materials. Its story ended in 1985 when International Harvester (the manufacturer) shut down, relegating the Scout to history books.

However, 40 years later, the mythical off-roader is ready for a second life, accompanied by the slogan, “Scouts always come back.” The development of the new vehicles will operate under the name Scout Motors, a Volkswagen Group company that acquired the rights a few years ago, seeing the opportunity to reintroduce a winning brand in a very dynamic U.S. market.

“This is about more than just bending metal. We’re revitalizing an icon, a brand, and a movement that unites a community of hardworking people looking to do the next good thing,” says the company’s website, where you can reserve the Traveler SUV and Terra Truck, as electric or electric plus gas version, with initial production targeted for 2027.

Designed and engineered in Novi, Michigan, at Scout Motors’ technical center, the new cars will be built in Blythewood, South Carolina, in a newly constructed plant, capable of employing more than 4,000 people and producing over 200,000 Scout pickups a year.

The announcement was made in mid-December by Scout Motors, which will invest $2 billion, by the Richland County Economic Development Office of the county of the same name where the new Blythewood plant will be built, by the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) and by the Webuild-Lane Group, underlining the start of a comprehensive project that includes the construction of the production infrastructure and the access roads to the plants. In this context, SCDOT has awarded Lane Construction the work to improve the road system on Interstate 77 (I-77). The $152 million contract includes the design and construction of a highway system with an interchange that will provide easy access to the new Scout Motors facility, delivering a significant economic boost to the region while helping relieve congestion and improve mobility for the residents of Blythewood.

Project work includes four bridges, ramps, relocating an existing community (frontage) road, and constructing a new east-west connector road from the planned Exit 26 to US 21. Parts of US 21 will be relocated to accommodate a grade-separated crossing for a new Norfolk Southern railroad spur line serving the Scout facility. Additionally, the project includes widening the northbound lanes of I-77 from south of the proposed interchange to Blythewood Road and making improvements at adjacent interchanges. This is Lane’s second recent win in South Carolina where it is already working on the I-20 Bridges over the Wateree River and rehabbing the overflow bridges in Kershaw County, all of which were constructed in the 1970s and have reached the end of their service lives.