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Scout Motors brings the past to the future with new models

(Credit: Scout Motors)

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Volkswagen’s Scout Motors brand brought the past to the future with its new Traveler SUV and Terra pickup truck. 

Scout Motors paid homage to the past through the Traveler and Terra’s designs and names. The designs of the new Scout SUV and pickup truck mix familiar lines with the technology of the present. 

“The Scout SUV and truck feature a bold, rugged design with iconic proportions. A hallmark of those proportions is a very short front overhang, long dash-to-axle, with the visual weight of the cabin shifted to the rear. The vehicles themselves define their rugged capability without add-on cladding or other adornments. The bumpers and rockers are separated from the body as protective elements, as well as showing off the body-on-frame platform,” described Scout.

Scout Traveler & Scout Terra’s Basic Details

The Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra pickup truck will be built on a proprietary body-on-frame platform. It has a solid rear axle designed for off-road performance. The platform is estimated to deliver more than 10,000 pounds of towing on the Terra truck and over 7,000 pounds on the Traveler SUV. Both Scout models will have about 2,000 pounds of payload.

Scout will offer two versions of the Traveler SUV and Terra truck: an all-electric model and a gasoline-fueled range-extended version. The pure electric Scout Traveler and Scout Terra are expected to have up to 350 miles of range. Meanwhile, the gasoline-fueled range-extended versions are estimated to offer up to 500 miles of range. 

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“Both energy systems will preserve the Scout Traveler and Scout Terra off-road characteristics as well as the packaging benefits of electric propulsion. Both Scout energy systems are designed to be flexibly integrated into the platform and into the production process, ensuring Scout Motors can respond to evolving market demand,” said Scout.

The Scout Traveler’s entry model with start at $50,000 with available incentives. The company estimates that retail prices for the Scout Traveler will start under $60,000. Meanwhile, the Terra pickup truck’s entry model will start at $51,000, and its retail prices are estimated to start under $60,000, too.

Scout Traveler & Scout Terra Production Details

Scout Motors aims to start production by 2027 on both models. It estimates that the Scout Traveler and Scout Terra will generate over 4,000 American jobs. 

“Two years in the making, the day has finally come to share the next generation of Scout vehicles with the world,” said Scott Keogh, the President and CEO of Scout Motors.

“The original core idea — rugged, versatile vehicles capable of off-road adventure and family duty — is more relevant than ever. We couldn’t be prouder to revitalize this iconic American brand, create thousands of American jobs, and put American ingenuity back to work,” added Keogh.

The company plans to design and engineer the Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra pickup truck in Michigan. In late 2023, Scout invested $11 million in Detroit on a Research and Development center. It will likely finalize the Traveler SUV and Terra truck’s designs in Detroit. 

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The company plans to manufacture its new vehicles in South Carolina, where it established a $2 billion assembly plant. Scout’s manufacturing facility is in Blythewood, South Carolina, and spans 1,600 acres. The Blythewood plant is expected to produce over 200,000 vehicles per year. 

If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via X @Writer_0100110.

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Elon Musk

NYC Comptroller moves to sue Tesla for securities violations

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MINISTÉRIO DAS COMUNICAÇÕES, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is urging the NYC Law Department to sue Tesla for securities violations related to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Lander said the basis for the potential litigation lies on “material misstatements from Tesla claiming that CEO Elon Musk spends significant time on the company and is highly active in its management, despite his helming the Trump Administration’s DOGE initiative.”

It is a common complaint amongst some Tesla shareholders who are less than enthusiastic about Musk’s involvement in DOGE. Some feel as if Musk is not concerned about Tesla, especially as the stock has dropped over 28 percent this year. However, Musk has continued to double down on his position within the U.S. government.

Nevertheless, Musk’s position in Tesla is still very apparent. He headed an All-Hands meeting just two weeks ago that showed his commitment to the company as he outlined future plans and even joked to employees that they should hold onto their stock.

However, Lander believes Musk’s involvement has hurt New York City pension systems, which have lost over $300 million so far this year. He said:

“In less than three months, Tesla stock has lost nearly 40% of its value, with losses over $300 million for the New York City pension systems. We have long expressed concerns that the Tesla board has failed to provide independent oversight, or to require that Musk – or someone else – serve as a full-time CEO.”

Lander went on to say that “material misstatements from Tesla misled investors about his role at the company,” stating this was his reasoning for calling on the Law Department to file securities litigation against the company.

He believes taking it to court will force changes and will return Tesla shares back to a level that will benefit pension systems in New York City:

“Shareholder litigation could force the changes in governance and leadership that Tesla needs, and help recover some of our pension systems’ losses. Otherwise, we may need to consider divestment.”

The pension systems would be able to pursue financial damages to cover losses and seek governance changes, it says.

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Elon Musk

Tesla is testing a Model 3 with some mysterious cameras in the U.S.

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Credit: u/Ready_Medium_6693

Tesla is testing a Model 3 with some mysterious cameras, potentially hinting toward the imminent release of the Cybercab and robotaxi platform in the United States.

After Tesla unveiled the Cybercab in Los Angeles in early October, the company suggested that it would be on its way to launching driverless rides in the U.S. in the near future.

Now, Tesla is inching toward a driverless ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, among some other potential locations, but it is still working toward a platform that is robust enough to handle it.

Although the company’s Full Self-Driving suite is one of the more advanced on the market, Tesla is still working to accomplish what it feels is a mode of transportation that is safer than a human driver. The robotaxi and Cybercab rollouts will likely accomplish that, but there is still work to be done beforehand.

Now, Tesla is testing a Model 3 in the U.S. that was spotted in several different locations in the Northeastern part of the country, as cameras are seen on this vehicle in locations that are not necessarily typical for what it offers currently:

Another one is seen here:

Interestingly, we saw similar camera locations on the Cybercab at the event in October. Tesla is not testing the Cybercab but instead implementing these cameras on a comparable position on its other vehicles.

These are the cameras we spotted on the Cybercab at the event in October:

In the past, Tesla has used a variety of strategies to measure self-driving accuracy, including LiDAR, which has been seen on some testing mules that we have spotted out in public.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that the company does not need LiDAR on testing mules for ground truth, but we still spot them from time to time on public roads.

It’s an appropriate way just to cross Ts and dot Is:

Tesla Model X testing mule spotted with LiDAR rig ahead of Robotaxi event

The company is still moving toward that initial rollout of driverless ride-hailing in Austin in June, and some company executives have stated that the Cybercab will be the vehicle it uses for these initial rides.

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Tesla adds security feature to Android with latest software update

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Credit: @greggertruck/X

Tesla is bolstering its release of features to Android users as it is rolling out some new things with its latest software update.

Update v4.43.5 will see Tesla add a Dashcam Viewer for Android phones, a new feature that will make it simpler to access and manage both Dashcam and Sentry Mode videos. This has been available to iPhone users for some time, but Android owners have not had access to this quite yet.

Tesla describes the release of the feature in release notes (via Not a Tesla App):

“The Dashcam Viewer is now available in the Tesla app for Android users.

The Dashcam Viewer makes it easy to access and manage your car’s Dashcam and Sentry Mode videos. Accessing videos on your phone is faster and more convenient, but it does come with a few requirements.

The Dashcam Viewer in the Tesla app allows you to view, delete, or save video clips right from your device. This should result in higher quality content being shared online and fewer videos of owners recording their Tesla’s screens with their phones.”

The feature creates a more convenient option to view things that your Tesla has captured on its dashcam or on its external cameras through Sentry Mode, its security camera system that records things that happen around the vehicle.

Sentry Mode has been a great addition for Tesla owners lately, as more and more instances of vandalism have been occurring in the past few months.

It seems Tesla might have made it a point to roll this feature out, especially as it would allow those who are getting Sentry Mode alerts to capture footage of keying or tire slashing, two common techniques used by those who dislike Tesla and/or Elon Musk.

Tesla quietly added this extra Sentry Mode feature to deter vandals

The last time Tesla rolled out some features to Android owners was in January when it beefed up offerings for those who do not use iOS. The January update saw Phone Key Improvements and Hands-Free Trunk Opening make their way to Android users.

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