Volkswagen is planning to enter the United States’ rapidly growing electric pickup and SUV market by utilizing the Scout brand, the company’s new CEO told Axios.
President and CEO of Volkswagen’s North American operations, Scott Keogh, is set to become the new CEO of Scout on September 1. Keogh, who has overseen VW’s growth in the U.S. EV sector for the past several years, is being promoted to the position as the German automaker plans to enter a slice of the market that is set to grow significantly over the next few years: Electric Pickups and SUVs.
“It’s time now to concentrate more on the U.S. market and the U.S. customer, and one piece of the puzzle, for sure, is Scout,” VW AG CEO Herbert Diess said.
Scout was established in the early 1960s and helped develop numerous SUV body styles that are still relevant to this day. The Scout, which was built by manufacturer International Harvester, had gone head-to-head with some of the most recognizable names in the sector, competing with original generation Ford Bronco, Jeep, and Land Rover. Scout stopped production in 1980 but will make a return with production set to begin in 2026. 250,000 units are expected to be sold annually in the United States.
The United States is known for its heavy concentration of pickup trucks, and manufacturers in the U.S. do them well. Ford has routinely captured the world’s best-selling pickup truck with the F-150 Series. Now that more automakers are diving into the EV pickup market, the time to develop models is now. Volkswagen knows the U.S. EV pickup market will be competitive, but it’s still very early on. The F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV, and Rivian R1T are the only three electric pickups available in the U.S. currently, with the Chevy Silverado EV, Tesla Cybertruck, and Lordstown Endurance all expected to be on the market soon.
According to the report, Scout will be an independent U.S.-based company and will take on partners and other investors initially. It could eventually become a publicly-traded company, executives from Volkswagen said.
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