TEXT & IMAGES: Scout Motors
t’s not an easy task to create new vehicles while honoring the heritage of their predecessors from 45 years ago. But that’s what the designers at Scout Motors have done. They’ve balanced nostalgia with modernity, preserving iconic design elements while creating something fresh and relevant for today’s market.
The reveal of the new Scout® Traveler™ SUV and Scout® Terra™ truck concepts in October 2024 attracted global attention. Blending rugged off-road capability with distinctive style, the vehicles got a near-universal thumbs-up from journalists and car enthusiasts alike.
But behind the scenes, the project presented serious challenges for the team in the Novi, Michigan design studio. After all, the first Scout 80™ was the archetype of the modern SUV. The revival of the brand demanded more than just an homage to the past: it needed a bold step forward. The question was: how?
To find out more, we set up the cameras and sat down with three of the designers charged with creating a new future for Scout Motors: Chief Design Officer Chris Benjamin, VP of Exterior Design Jordan Meadows, and Chief Exterior Designer Taylor Langhals.
“From a design perspective, I wanted to capture the magic of the original Scouts...”
“From a design perspective, I wanted to capture the magic of the original Scouts,” says Benjamin, “but not do something that was a copy, or just a retro statement.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Langhals. “It’s important to tie back to the heritage. The original cars had this unique proportion—set back on the wheels—and it gave them a powerful stance that creates this unique silhouette.”
A clean sheet of paper can be intimidating, but in the right hands, it’s also strangely freeing. “Things aren’t rigid, hard, or dogmatic,” says Meadows. “We have a sense of structure and toughness in the car—but it’s executed in a way that makes it very, very friendly.”
"We have a sense of structure and toughness in the car—but it’s executed in a way that makes it very, very friendly.”
The designers give us an insight into their thought processes, and the styling elements they’ve chosen to link the past with the future. They talk about the geometry of the vehicles, and their approach to the all-important front grill at a time when the ‘faces’ of cars have never been so distinctive.
Watch the first episode of Forging The Future below to see how the Traveler SUV and Terra truck stay true to their roots while capturing the imagination of a new generation.
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