New Volkswagen Scout sub-brand to birth electric pick-up
German giant will reportedly establish a new off-road EV brand to sell rugged electric SUVs and utesThe Volkswagen Group will reportedly employ the ‘Scout’ name previously used by Skoda for a new all-electric sub-brand specialising in rugged off-road SUVs and pick-up trucks.
According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal this week, the plan is expected to be signed off tonight (May 11) and will be the first brand created by Volkswagen in and specifically for the United States.
Production of the new Scout vehicles is apparently slated to begin in 2026, and the VW Group is reportedly targeting 250,000 annual sales once the new operation is established as a brand in its own right like Audi and Skoda and running at full steam.
The 2026 production start coincides perfectly with the German brand’s move to a single unified EV architecture dubbed the ‘Scalable Systems Platform (SSP)’.
This new architecture will eventually replace both the Volkswagen group’s current MEB and upmarket PPE platforms and be capable of handling up to 850kW of power.
What exactly this means for the new SUV and ute duo is anyone’s guess for the time being, but the Journal’s report comes less than a month after Ford announced it was developing a second all-electric pick-up truck “different than” the newly-launched Ford F150 Lightning.
Like the eventual Scout brand, Ford’s second all-electric ute will be developed and built in the US, leading to speculation about a possible relation between the Scout and future Blue Oval products.
The plot thickens further given reports from Reuters and Manager Magazin suggesting Volkswagen is planning to expand its Chattanooga plant in Tennessee, which lays less than five hours’ drive from Ford’s Blue Oval City complex where this mystery second electric ute will be built.
Volkswagen and Ford announced a strategic partnership back in July 2019 that would see the latter gaining access to VW’s MEB architecture for future EV products, with Ford anticipating at the time to produce around 600,000 MEB-based vehicles for Europe between 2023 and 2029.
Regardless, the Scout brand is rumoured to benefit from an initial $US1 billion ($A1.44b) investment from Volkswagen, with more to come from external investors in the future – potentially via a public listing on a stock exchange.
The Volkswagen Group will invest at least $US7.1 billion ($A9.9b) over the next five years in North America, where it will add 25 new EVs by 2030, by which time it expects EVs to account for half of its US sales.
The Scout brand would join Audi, Bentley, Cupra, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen in the VW Group’s enormous brand portfolio.
Apart from being previously applied to crossover versions of the Skoda Octavia and Superb in Australia, the Scout nameplate was previously seen on an American off-roader from the now-defunct International Harvester brand.
Volkswagen secured the rights to the Scout name when it purchased heavy truck maker Navistar, which succeeded International Harvester in 1986. Before then, IH rivalled Jeep with a range of models including the two-door Scout off-roader (pictured here), which competed with the Ford Bronco and Chevrolet Blazer throughout the 1970s until it was axed in 1980.
Little is known about either Scout product, or their potential to be sold outside the US, but sources told the Journal the Scout pick-up will be about the same size as the Volkswagen Amarok and the SUV around the size of the seven-seat VW Atlas sold in the US.
While Volkswagen has previously said it is studying an all-electric version of its next Amarok – which like the new Ford Ranger on which it’s based is ‘package-protected’ for mild-hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure-EV powertrains – it’s believed the electric Scout pick-up and SUV will be aimed at full-size electric models like the F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer pick-up and SUV, RAM EV and Rivian R1T/R1S.
Reports that Volkswagen was considering creating a hard-core pure-electric off-roader to compete against the Land Rover Defender and Jeep Wrangler first surfaced in September 2021, when VW's former North American chief Johan De Nysschen told Motor Trend that the car-maker was targeting "a $US40,000 ($A55K) price point instead of $US70,000 ($A97K)".
Related: Volkswagen plotting all-electric Jeep Wrangler rival
Join the conversation at
Or email us at
Or email us at
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
