Scout Traveler Walkaround, Interior and Details! | Spirit of ‘26

Are the Scout Motors truck and SUVs still happening? Yes. The answer is yes, which is good news because these things are pretty cool. They revealed the concepts for the Terra and Traveller SUV and truck back at the end of 2024 and they have been working hard on getting these things to production. In terms of the timeline, we're still looking at startup production sometime in 2027. They're still working on a lot of engineering things. The plant is finishing up soon. They're hiring people and obviously design and engineering is hard at work getting these things ready. And customer delivery should start at some point in 2028. This one right here is the Spirit of 26, a fun tribute for America's 250th birthday, but also a throwback to the Spirit of 76 because Scout Motors is properly historic. They've not only brought back the name, but the Terra and Traveller names are actually models they used to have. So they're respecting that heritage, but very, very much modernizing it. Today, we are in Novi, Michigan at their Innovation Center, where design and engineering sits to check out this Spirit of 26 specifically up close. We'll take a look at the exterior, the interior, and talk about some of the technical details from what we know and get some members of the team to show us around this special tribute model. All right, so the powertrain. What is powering the Scout truck and SUV? One of the most frequent questions I see and misconceptions is this is still all electric, which is not true because they have the Harvester powertrain option, which is an E-Rev, extended range electric vehicle. What that means is we have an actual gasoline engine. It's going to be a 1.4 liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder from the VW group. That's going to be in the back by the rear axle. Now that engine does not power the wheels. It's simply a generator, hence the range extender thing. So you put gas in it and it charges up your battery pack and you just keep driving. Now the Harvester powertrain is very popular from what we've seen so far. Scout says they have around 180,000 deposits already from people who want to buy and 85%, about 85% are going to be going for the Harvester. So the Scout is still going to be available as a pure battery electric vehicle, but the Harvester powertrain does seem like what most buyers are going to be looking for because range anxiety is still a little bit of a thing, right? Charging infrastructure anxiety is really the more accurate way of describing it because Scout is targeting up to 350 miles of total range for their pure electric version. But if you do get the Harvester version with the engine, you'll see at least 500 miles range because it takes the battery range and also the gas engine as the generator. And if you're on a road trip, you just put gas in it and keep going. Now the beauty of the Harvester powertrain being an E-REV and not a conventional hybrid is the engine isn't actually driving the wheels. It's a generator. So you still have all of the perks of being a pure electric powertrain. You get the instant torque, the smooth power delivery, all of the nice things of an EV, but with the Harvester engine, it does alleviate a lot of that range anxiety because we have gas stations everywhere. So if you see somebody say, oh, these things are just all electric, it's not true. Harvester is going to be the majority take rate. So that's good news for all of you who are thinking about purchasing a Scout. We need to talk about the capabilities because these are going to be legit. Now this is Scout's own platform. They developed it. It is not some platform they borrowed from another OEM. It's a proper body-on-frame construction, and they'll be pretty off-road capable. As you can tell, this is massive. I am 6'3", and this is a big, big body-on-frame SUV. Same thing with the pickup truck. We have 35-inch tires here. It's, like I said, body-on-frame, solid rear axle, front and rear lockers, sway bar disconnect. It'll have all that off-road capability that you would want, but also towing capacity. So these numbers are estimates because these are still under engineering development, but the truck is targeting 10,000 pounds of towing. This SUV would be 7,000 pounds. So these things will be able to do pretty much anything you would expect a full-size body-on-frame truck and SUV to do. And for those who are worried about towing with an EV and range and so forth, well, the Harvester is going to solve all of those issues for you, which is probably why that take rate is skewing so far into the Harvester side. And the other thing is beyond, like, you know, truck and SUV towing capacity, off-road stuff, they're going to be fast because of the EV capabilities with the motors, right? It's going to do 0 to 60 in as quick as 3.5 seconds, which will keep up with most sports cars out there. So basically the whole graphic around this car was originally inspired by the Scout Heritage Rally graphic. And we kind of sprinkled Americana vibe with a modern technology of Harvester with a little detail of combine, the idea of harvesting. And so this is literally like a combine Harvester going through, like, rows of corn or whatever from a top-down view, right? Yep. That's really cool. And we have those details sprinkled all over the vehicles as like a little Easter egg. So LA Auto Show actually had a different door, Harvester door. Okay. And we had this element within here. Oh yeah, I remember that. Okay. And we looked at a lot of, like, the Team USA uniforms to be really inspired by how they really lay things out on their white uniforms with blue, red, and white. So I'm Josh Henry. I'm the exterior design manager here at Scout Motors. This is very exciting. This is our latest edition of our traveler concept car. You know, this is, you know, talking a lot about the heritage. Obviously, we're going back. That's very much a common thread, I would say, is like this heritage meets ingenuity, right? So everything we're doing is trying to tie back to the heritage, but, you know, making it a lot more modern, bringing it into the future, right? So on this latest variant, obviously, you see there's a very important birthday coming up for us. And so we wanted to celebrate that a little bit, you know, with the spirit of 26, which is a nice nod to the heritage of 76 graphics that we had in our past. The colors are really unique. It's called white cap. It's a really cool kind of matte white. And then, obviously, we're integrating these really cool graphics on the side with the nice red, white, and blue. The harvester graphic that you'll see here, really nice detail. Again, a nice little nod to our heritage, you know, with the international harvester. Obviously, we have the harvester range extender, which is a big story for us. So we're trying to tie that into the vehicle all the way around. We've heard from some of the designers. Now let's take an up-close tour of this traveler, the spirit of 26, a fun patriotic tribute here with the red, white, and blue. They've been doing these fun different designs to keep things fresh. Because to be fair, it is a pretty long time from when they first announced to when they are actually going to be doing customer deliveries. But that's because they're developing an entire new company, new vehicle, all of this. The plant is still being built. This is going to be designed, built in America, right, in South Carolina. So this is a big undertaking. But we can check out some of the details here. We've got the satin white with the blue and red stripes. And this is a cool touch. The harvester overhead view. Imagine a combine harvester going through rows of corn or wheat or other farming things. Now this port right here is for gas. At the LA Auto Show, the blue one they showed, they had kind of this pattern here. That's where you're going to fill up for the harvester e-rev powertrain. The charge doors on the other side, I'll show you that. Design-wise, these things are really cool. It's big. I mean, you have to see one in person to truly get it. But hopefully you saw me at six foot three for scale. This is a body-on-frame SUV. Size-wise, they're saying it's around the size of a Tahoe. So it's bigger than a lot of other off-road SUVs in kind of this segment. If you think about like a Bronco, a Wrangler, a Toyota Land Cruiser, this thing is hefty. I mean, these are 35-inch tires. Around back, you get the full-size carrier, which is always really, really cool. And I love, this is one of my favorite details, with the carrier, the scout lights up there as part of like the whole brake light, rear lighting thing. And like the lighting design is really, really cool. The little details like traveler right there. And I love, just like on the front DRLs, this cuts through the body, this actual taillight. That is so cool. It's got like this mask effect coming out here. So we've got the full-size tire carrier back here. And this one is showing some potential accessory, more off-road looking bumpers. So we've got the rear bumper back here with a tow hitch. And then they've got these rock rail side bumpers, which look pretty cool. They're steel for proper functionality. And then up front, this is that bumper with the integrated winch. This has got to be one of the cleanest winch integrations I've seen. Usually it's like bulbous and just hanging out there, but this is like as OEM plus and clean as possible. Everything is hidden away. It looks very, very nice. Even little details here, scout supply, max load, 16,000 pounds. Now this is purely just conceptual, right? Showing off things, but it's pretty cool. They're definitely leaning into that off-road capability, that ruggedness and everything that, I mean, historic scouts would be known for. I know a lot of people are going to say Rivian R1S. I've seen it in the comments every time I've posted a video with the scout vehicles. From a pricing standpoint, an R1S is quite a bit more expensive. Scout is still expecting pricing starting at under $60,000, right? Now, again, if you option it up, prices will climb and we know the EV tax credit is gone, but they're still sticking to a pretty reasonable price for one of these. Now, final pricing with options and powertrain details are still to come, but if they can stick to that price point, this is going to be really, really interesting and appealing. We opened up everything so we can check out some of the storage and also the interior. So we have a front trunk, a frunk, and a cool thing is the front fascia. This piece goes up with the hood, which means you have direct front access. Sometimes when EVs have front trunks, this piece stays. So if you're vertically challenged and it's a bigger truck or SUV, you might have a hard time reaching over to put stuff into the front trunk, but this one opens up here. And the other cool thing is they were able to package it in a way with the harvester. So the engine's towards the back at the rear axle, which means we still have a front trunk. So regardless if you do the full electric version or the E-Rev, the harvester, you still have a front trunk. Got little cup holders right here. Looks like an air compressor, some lighting. So nice little front trunk storage here on the Scouts, which I love front trunks because especially for a pickup truck, I'm not going to like leave my backpack in the bed. I mean, yes, you obviously have your cabin, but some things I just like being able to, you know, lock away and seal and just add an additional extra storage, which is always a nice thing. All right, let's come around the side here. We'll check out the interior in a moment. Charging. So we have a native Tesla style NACS charging port on the driver's side rear, which I believe is the right position for ideal parking at charging stations. But anyways, up to 350 kilowatt charging speed is what they are targeting. 800 volt architecture. So very nice and fast charging on Tesla stations, which is what the entire industry is moving to for the actual port. Now, look at this. We've got little outlets right here, the Scout supply power station. So let's just say you're at a campsite, you're at a worksite or wherever, and you want to plug in an appliance or maybe your laptop, you charge it, right? Anyways, you got just little outlets right here. AC 120 volt, 2200 watts. That's pretty legit. Like you could run, you could run a whole worksite off of that thing. So nice little convenience back here, really skinny and long charging door. Now we have a split tailgate in the back, which is also really cool. So the tire carrier swings out of the way. This has to be a pretty reinforced arm because this massive 35 inch wheel tire combo is going to be pretty heavy. Good amount of storage back here. Looks like a two row SUV. So you're going to have tons of practicality and I always like a split tailgate. It's pretty cool. Now let's check out the interior, which is one of my favorite things. Every time I've seen a Scout in person, talk to the designers, I'm always really impressed with how much they're prioritizing an analog interior experience. A lot of times these new cars, EVs, everything in general, right, is all so digital. It's screens on screens on screens and everything has a touch button, this and swipey control this and AI that, right? Now there's enough modern tech in here. They're going to be giving you the modern creature comforts and things like that capabilities, but the actual respect to the analog experience is really cool. Just look at this row of actual physical toggle buttons. That's so nice. There is a big touchscreen here and we've seen the software and it looks really nice. Obviously still way in early development stages, but it does look very, very nice. The graphics are cool, but right now with this one, we can take a look at some of the materials design and the functionality. So lots of storage. We've got these probably wireless phone chargers right there, our cup holders and then massive storage here below and start noticing like the little angled line plaid patterns, right? You see they're molded in. Take a look at the headliner. I literally went, whoa, the headliner is crazy here. Can you see that? Look at that. It's got this like subtle plaid pattern all across the entire headliner. That's cool. And while we are up here, that's a compass. That's an actual like analog compass. Is that like better to use in any way? No, it's probably more expensive to do than just have a little screen showing if you're going north or something, but that's like an actual really cool detail in touch that when somebody sees it, they go, whoa, that's really unique. We've got a bunch of other controls up here. We see our diff locks and some various other controls up top, some physical buttons and then the materials. This feels like denim and then all the leather with the stitching and then the different contrast materials, more of that denim up here, the Scout logo. And this thing is a big, big SUV. So let me go ahead and step up very carefully. These are concept pre-production vehicles. Oh, I'm sitting in the Scout. Oh, seats are pretty comfy. Steering wheel here, big two spoke design. But again, look, so many physical buttons. Oh, it looks like the power buttons right there on the steering wheel. That's pretty cool. These rotary toggles. I'm going to be very careful not to touch or fidget with things because again, this is a hand-built early, early concept and it's going to an event. So I don't want to do anything that I shouldn't. We've got some USB-C charging ports right there. Even on the pedals, the brake pedal and the accelerator, we have a little plaid pattern. Wait, hey, you know, one of my pet peeves when I accidentally call the gas pedal and when I'm in an EV, I'm like, well, there's no gas pedal. There's no throttle, right? It's an EV. But when you have a range extender, can you call it a gas pedal? Can you call it a throttle? Because the engine is just the generator and you're still being propelled by your electric motors. Anyways, I am going down a random rabbit hole. Another really cool detail. Let me hop out very carefully. Whoa, that is a big step down. Wow, I'm pretty tall. Right here, we've got more of that plaid pattern on the speaker covers, which is pretty cool. Lots of little Scout logos hidden all over the place. Lots of storage here on the door. We've got the strap here. Now let's check out the second row. I hope this makes it through. A little lighting here on the door handles. So we've got a bench seat back here. More controls, a flat floor, and really nice materials and everything. Again, this is early conceptual kind of thing, but everyone I've seen has stayed pretty much the same from the layout design and the ethos has not deviated. It's not like they've started to remove features or things like that. They're just really changing different colors, the materials, like textures, and that's what they're playing around with as they're working their way towards hitting production. But that's a look at the interior. We've got the, oh, of course, the giant roof open here. That's very nice for the open air experience. Genuinely, this interior is so cool. You've got buttons for your front trunk and your rear trunk. All the aux switches are right here. We have a little plaque right here for the model Traveler. That's gotta be a pretend VIN. And then the wheelbase, made in the United States of America. The plant, I think the plant is supposed to be done later this year. I hope you enjoyed this tour of the Spirit of 26 Scout Traveler. When Scout asked me if I wanted to come down to their Novi office to check it out, I said, absolutely, because it was also incredibly convenient. I live like 20 minutes away from here, but it's always cool getting to see these in person. And yes, I can reassure you, they are still happening. The plant is finishing construction. They're working on development. There'll be engineering test vehicles soon. They'll have to do crash testing, certification, all that kind of stuff. In terms of the model split, what they're saying is they're going to focus and start with the Traveler E-Rive first because that is what the majority of their reservation holders are indicating they want. That's really cool when they take reservations because they can see what buyers are actually looking at, right? So the split is supposed to be 75% Traveler, 25% Terra. These are all estimates based off of the reservation holders. So more people want the SUV than the truck. And the E-Rive, the harvester powertrain is 85% of the total take rate. So will we see all electric Scouts out there? Absolutely. But you're going to see a lot more with the E-Rive powertrain. And that is a good thing, I think, because it's going to solve pretty much all the complaints and concerns so many people have of being full EV. It gives you that flexibility and they're giving you the choice. You can either go for the battery electric. Maybe you don't tow that much. Maybe you're just using it as a daily driver and you're fully happy with 350 miles of range and pretty quick charging. Well, you can get that if you want, but they heard the consumers, the people who are putting their money down for reservations. Harvester powertrain will be the priority with the Traveler. And this one, the Spirit of 26, a fun tribute. I think you'll be seeing this out and about. They're parading them around to keep the interest up and excitement going. But I'm actually really, really excited to see Scout come to fruition. The interior, genuinely really nice. It looks and feels very modern having seen the software at play, but then the toggles and the physical controls. And I love, I love the compass, right? It's not like a practical thing per se, right? I don't actually use a compass that much. I'm probably directionally challenged. I'm like, am I facing south or east or whatever? But it's just a cool detail and touch. And it really speaks to the mindset of the designers, the people who are working here overall, size-wise, capability-wise. Yeah, it's going to be pretty good. But there we go. A look at the Scout Motors Spirit of 26 Traveler. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. Thanks for watching.