VW bought Navistar (which owned the rights on Harvester). They own the rights to names. Spent 3.7 billion on it.
The ag division owned the actual IHC brand and rights for the...you know...the harvesters. That was sold off and merged into Case (now Case IH who are themselves owned by Fiat via CNH ) in the 80s. So International became Navistar. But their truck division is confusingly still called International. Scout and the auto division was sold off in the 90s for scrap after being abandoned. But the old naming rights obv stayed with navistar. Would def be another sweet old school nameplate to have back. And it was actually a truck originally lol
International was the first company to make a crew cab truck. Way before their time. They had to make a choice between their small truck line and their commercial in the late 70s early early 80s. I’ve always loved Scout IIs and Travelettes.
That's wishful thinking. A base Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf with sub-300 mile range starts in the mid-$30s. One with 300-mile range will run you a minimum of $45K. I don't care how cheap you make the rest of the vehicle. You can't stuff 100KWh worth of batteries in there and hit the $30K price point. It would also weigh 5000lbs and effectively reduce the payload to zero if built on the same chassis. What's even the point of having the bed?
You're talking about the ID Buzz. I trust they will get it built. They have the cash, their current EVs are successful (very much so in Europe), and they have successfully revived old models in the past. This thing will likely cost around $50K and I expect the entire lot will be snatched up by old hippies who have the money to turn nostalgia into poor decisions.
Nissan Leaf is the cheapest (common) EV, with base model starting at $27.5k with 150 mile range. Hyundai Kona starts at $34k with a range of 258 miles. A 300 mile range pickup for $30k is laughable; as you noted, it would almost have to be built on a new chassis and I'd be shocked if it started <$40k.
Looking ahead a few years, not today.
Battery efficiency has progressed fairly rapidly over the past decade, leading to reduced cost per kWH, but EVs have only gotten more expensive - that's not even accounting for current inflation and supply chain constraints. Curious as to why you think cars (specifically EVs) are going to magically get cheaper in the next few years?
Yeah they are awesome to see still out on the road sometimes.
We've been intrigued by the ID Buzz for many years. However, recent reviews have indicated that pricing might be closer to $65k.....definitely a no-go for us retired folks on a fixed income.
They’re expensive because they’re being sold at the high end of the market. They’ll be moving down market sooner than you think.
