THE MORNING RANT: Some Fools Never Learn – Ford & VW Prepare to Roll Out New Small Electric Pickups

There are three new small pickup trucks about to roll out. That is great news. They’re all going to be electric. That is bad news.

In my circle of guy friends who came of age in the 1980s, we all seemed to have had a Chevrolet S10, Nissan Hardbody, or Ford Courier / Ranger pickup at some point. We’ve also lamented the lack of small pickup trucks in recent years.

Without getting into the weeds as to why, small pickup trucks with good gas mileage were effectively outlawed by the government’s environmental regulators. Why? Because they’re idiots large trucks were exempt from the automobile corporate fuel standards, but small trucks weren’t. Fortunately, Donald Trump, Lee Zeldin, and Congress’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act combined to kill off all the old mandates.

Auto manufacturers are finally free to build the small pickup trucks that had effectively been banned for decades. And they’re doing just that! Except, they’re going to be electric.

Electric vehicles have been a catastrophic failure for VW and Ford, costing tens of billions of dollars and not ever achieving more than nominal sales before they killed their flagship EVs, the Volkswagen ID.4 and Ford F150 Conflagration Lightning respectively. In fact, Ford and VW both built all-new plants in Tennessee just for their EVs, which were expected to sell hundreds of thousands of units per year. Those plants are now producing zero EVs.

Ford and VW triumphantly rolling out another wave of EVs is as preposterous as Bud Light rolling out another ad campaign with Dylan Mulvaney. But here we are.

First, Volkswagen bought the name “Scout,” which was International (Harvester’s) famous mid-century pickup. What the Scout was not was electric. No matter, VW is building yet another all-new plant in the U.S., this one in South Carolina, with plans to produce up 200,000 electric Scouts per year. From Car and Driver:

Just a few years after announcing its ambitious intention to revive the Scout brand—once owned by the International Harvester Company—VW has issued proof of concept in the form of the 2028 Scout Terra EV pickup. Debuting alongside its Scout Traveler SUV sibling…the Terra is poised to be an amalgam of modern and traditional styling and engineering themes. For instance, it’s built on a classic truck-style body-on-frame blueprint with a crew cab and 5.5-foot bed, but it uses a modern battery-electric powertrain that’s good for an estimated 350 miles of range.

In other words, with 350 miles of range, this Scout pickup truck cannot do what the small pickups of my youth did, drive from Central Texas to South Padre on a whim, with only one 5-minute refueling stop. Nor could it drive out to New Mexico for a ski trip, etc. Like all other EVs, the Scout will be a novelty that is only good for running around town.

As for Ford, it has recently launched the small Maverick pickup truck, which is gasoline-powered and a huge sales success. Perhaps Ford thinks its new EV pickup will be a popular lineup addition. Ford’s EV history indicates otherwise.

“2028 Ford Ranchero: Everything We Know About the $30,000 Electric Truck; The upcoming Ranchero could be the affordable EV pickup we’ve been waiting for” [Motor Trend – 7/14/2026]

[Affordable EV pickups] is still an untested market, but if expertly executed, it has the potential to take off for both buyers and automakers. Ford clearly sees the opportunity here and is aggressively angling for it. Furthermore, Ford already has tried-and-true success in the compact Maverick, and the Ranchero should offer the Maverick’s size and utility advantages while not sipping on a drop of fuel.

The Ranchero also won’t be Ford’s first EV pickup. That title goes to the F-150 Lightning, whose production ceased late last year. However, where the Lightning failed is where the Ranchero could succeed, as buyers have shown an overwhelming interest and desire for more affordable vehicles. Without the federal EV tax credit to lean on, automakers are going to have to retool how they price their EVs.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame is forever trying to copy Elon Musk’s successes, so now Bezos is launching an EV company, focusing on what else? Small, electric pickups.

“A $24,950 Electric Pickup Truck? Bezos-Backed Company Ready to Take on Tesla” [Finance Yahoo - 6/26/2026]

Slate Auto, backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, could have the secret formula to making disruption in the pickup truck market that includes Tesla Inc, Rivian Automotive, General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co. The secret could be cost. Here's how Slate Auto is solving the key issue.

Originally planning to launch a bare-bones electric pickup truck for under $20,000, the ending of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit put that pricing plan from Slate Auto into question. On Wednesday, the company unveiled its Slate Truck, which will come with an initial starting price point of $24,950 with units expected to ship in late 2026.

Just like Tesla found a niche with Tesla as a boutique city car for those with a home-charger and at least one gas-powered car, there may be a market niche for a small electric pickup that serves as a status-symbol “2nd car” for running errands. Perhaps Bezos will capture that small market.

But these small electric pickup trucks will never become the all-purpose vehicle for the demographic that was so loyal to small pickups decades ago. Young adults buying inexpensive vehicles tend to be transient in their housing, and places where transient people live cannot be relied on to have charging facilities. The only reliable EV demographic is homeowners with home chargers (who had to spend on average several thousand dollars to have a home charger installed.) That is not who the inexpensive pickups are being targeted for.

Ford and VW are about to burn through billions more chasing a market that doesn’t actually exist. Some fools never learn.

Other Stuff I’m Writing About

My latest piece at the The American Spectator has been published.

“Repealing the 17th Amendment Would Save… John Cornyn” discusses my opposition to the growing clamor for repealing the 17th Amendment. Prior to this constitutional amendment, state legislatures chose that state’s senators - they were not elected at the ballot box.

Primary voters just voted incumbent Republican senators John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy out of office, a necessary act of political hygiene that the legislatures of Texas and Louisiana would not have done.

Even more importantly, too much of our federal governance is already in the hands of unelected rulers, be they judges or bureaucrats. We, voters, would like to remove many of them, but we can’t. The last thing we should do right now is take away the ability to vote out bad senators too.

How to fix the problem of left-leaning Republicans in state legislatures warrants its own discussion, but the simple fact that RINOs hold so much power in red state legislatures is enough reason not to hand them the power to choose U.S. Senators. Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton are both conservative insurgents who defied the establishment to win their U.S. Senate nominations. Neither would have ever been chosen by the Texas legislature, but conservative voters made that choice at the ballot box.

This piece is not behind a paywall. I’d be honored if you’d give it a read.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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