Volkswagen might be about to launch a new dedicated EV pickup and off-roading company in the US called Scout.
The VW Group’s advisory board is due to vote on, and expected to approve the proposal, today (11 May) according to sources familiar with the plan.
The Scout brand, named after the International Harvester Scout SUV which came to market in the 1960s, would begin by producing two C-segment EVs comparable in size to the Ford Maverick, according to TechCrunch.
VW is planning on pumping an initial $100 million into the new company with more investment to follow. The initial investment will create the structure of the company, set up management, and being bringing employees on board.
It’s also possible that some future investments might come from external sources and might not be limited to institutional investors, according to the sources. While EV companies have been popular with investors in recent months, it’s worth a note of caution given the state that Canoo seems to have got itself in.
With VW aiming to sell the most EVs in the world by 2025 and to double its market share in the US to 10% by the end of the decade, a new electric pickup spinoff in the same vein as Rivian might be a great way to go about it.
However, there is no information on when or where the Scout SUVs will be manufactured. Plus, given the Scout vehicles are expected to be built on a dedicated platform for off-road, high ground clearance vehicles — not VW’s all-encompassing electric MEB platform used in the ID.3, and ID. Buzz models as well as a host of Audis, the Skoda Enyaq, and Cupra Born — it seems unlikely that the Scouts would be manufactured at VW’s Chattanooga plant.
The Scout-branded vehicles are expected to be available in the US before any other markets, though the platform used by the vehicles might be licensed to other brands for use around the world at a later date.
Top image credit: TechCrunch
