A recent report out of Austria states that local contract manufacturer Magna Steyr has been chosen by Volkswagen’s new all-electric truck brand Scout, to develop the latter’s first wave of vehicles. The order is reportedly worth nearly $500 million – potentially Magna Steyr’s biggest development contract ever.
Scout is the classic nameplate that’s origin dates back to the International Harvester Scout – an off-road vehicle from the ’60s and ’70s. Following rumors swirling in 2022 that Volkswagen Group was considering reviving the brand, the German automaker confirmed it would in fact return, but as an entirely-electric marque targeting a similar customer demographic as the Rivian R1 EVs.
Since then, we’ve only seen the teaser renderings of the potential Scout EVs, followed by news the vehicles would be built in the US at a new facility being erected in South Carolina.
In November of 2022, we reported that Scout was seeking a seasoned contract manufacturer to help bring its designs to fruition. The two names being discussed were Foxconn and Magna Steyr.
According to a recent report out of the EU, Magna Steyr appears to have been chosen as the developmental suitor by Scout and will help realize the nascent EV brand’s future in an increasingly competitive (and exciting) segment.
Magna Steyr to help Scout deliver flagship EVs by 2026
Local Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitungfirst broke the news that Scout has selected Magna Steyr as its development contractor, detailing a deal to help realize its first two EV models with an order volume worth 450 million euros ($491.8 million) transferred by parent company Volkswagen Group.
That amount is reportedly the largest development contract Magna Steyr has ever received.
To date, Magna Steyr has produced over 4 million vehicles across 31 different model designs, including the G-Class by Mercedes-Benz and the Ocean SUV for Fisker. In 2024, Graz will also take on production of the all-electric G-Wagon. Volkswagen Group also has a long running relationship with Steyr, contracting development of vehicles like the Audi TT.
The report states that development between Scout and Magna Steyr is already underway in both Graz, Austria and the US, while the former’s original target date of series production by late 2026 remains on track.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, the Scout brand decided to take production into its own hands on US soil and intends to do so in 2027 – targeting 150,000 EVs off its assembly lines that first year. Of those units, we should see a large SUV and a full-size pickup truck, each offering all-electric ranges up to 400 miles (650 km).
Looking ahead, we could see Volkswagen Group further expand its relationship with Magna Steyr through Scout’s platform technology and Audi’s aspirations to garner more of the US market with a more rugged model to compete against the Mercedes G-Series.
Perhaps Audi taps development help from Magna using Scout’s incoming platform and contracts the company to build the EU models in Graz? Makes sense, but that’s nothing more than speculation at this point.
What is clear however, is that Volkswagen Group has found a automotive veteran in Magna Steyr which should help move the development of Scout’s first two EVs along nicely. This will be an exciting journey to follow the next two years.
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GreenPower Motor Company says it’s received three orders for 11 of its BEAST electric Type D school buses for western state school districts in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
GreenPower hasn’t made the sort of headline-grabbing promises or big-money commitments that companies like Nikola and Lion Electric have, but while those companies are floundering GPM seems to be plugging away, taking orders where it can and actually delivering buses to schools. Late last year, the company scored 11 more orders for its flagship BEAST electric school bus.
As far as these latest orders go, the breakdown is:
seven to Los Banos Unified School District in Los Banos, California
two for the Hood River County School District in Hood River, Oregon
two for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Casa Grande, Arizona
Those two BEAST electric school buses for Arizona will join another 90-passenger BEAST that was delivered to Phoenix Elementary School District #1, which operates 15 schools in the center of Phoenix, late last year.
“As school districts continue to make the change from NOx emitting diesel school buses to a cleaner, healthier means of transporting students, school district transportation departments are pursuing the gold standard of the industry – the GreenPower all-electric, purpose-built (BEAST) school buses,” said Paul Start, GreenPower’s Vice President of Sales, School Bus Group. “(The) GreenPower school bus order pipeline and production schedule are both at record levels with sales projections for (2025) set to eclipse the 2024 calendar year.”
GreenPower moved into an 80,000-square-foot production facility in South Charleston, West Virigina in August 2022, and delivered its first buses to that state the following year.
Electrek’s Take
Since the first horseless carriage companies started operating 100 years ago (give or take), at least 1,900 different companies have been formed in the US, producing over 3,000 brands of American automobiles. By the mid 1980s, that had distilled down to “the big 3.”
All of which is to say: don’t let the recent round of bankruptcies fool you – startups in the car and truck industry is business as usual, but some of these companies will stick around. If you’re wondering which ones, look to the ones that are making units, not promises.
While some recent high-profile bankruptcies have cast doubt on the EV startup space recently, medium-duty electric truck maker Harbinger got a shot of credibility this week with a massive $100 million Series B funding round co-led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for fledgling EV brands like Lion Electric and Canoo, but box van builder Harbinger is bucking the trend, fueling its latest funding round with an order book of 4,690 vehicles that’s valued at nearly $500 million. Some of the company’s more notable customers including Bimbo Bakeries (which owns brands like Sara Lee, Thomas’, and Entenmann’s) and THOR Industries (Airstream, Jayco, Thor), which is also one of the investors in the Series B.
The company plans to use the funds to ramp up to higher-volume production capacity and deliver on existing orders, as well as build-out of the company’s sales, customer support, and service operations.
“Harbinger is entering a rapid growth phase where we are focused on scaling production of our customer-ready platform,” said John Harris, co-founder and CEO. “These funds catalyze significant revenue generation. We’ve developed a vehicle for a segment that is ripe for electrification, and there is a strong product/market fit that will help fuel our upward trajectory through 2025 and beyond.”
The company has raised $200 million since its inception in 2021.
There is no state more associated with cars and car culture than Michigan – and the state that’s home to the Motor City has just taken a huge step into the future with the deployment of its first-ever all electric police vehicle.
The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E patrol vehicle is assigned to the Michigan State Police State Security Operations Section, and will be to be used by armed, uniformed members of the MSP specializing in general law enforcement and security services at state-owned facilities in the Lansing, MI area.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to research, in real time, how a battery electric vehicle performs on patrol,” says Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “Our state properties security officers patrol a substantially smaller number of miles per day than our troopers and motor carrier officers, within city limits and at lower speeds, coupled with the availability of charging infrastructure in downtown Lansing, making this the ideal environment to test the capabilities of a police-package battery electric vehicle.”
In those tests, the EVs have impressed – but the MSP has been hesitant to commit to a BEV until now. “We began testing battery electric vehicles in 2022, but up until now hybrids were the only alternative fuel vehicle in our fleet,” said Lt. Nicholas Darlington, commander of the Precision Driving Unit. “Adding this battery electric vehicle to our patrol fleet will allow us to study the vehicle’s performance long-term to determine if there is a potential for cost savings and broader applicability within our fleet.”