Dusseldorf Volkswagen is attempting a fresh start in the USA. As announced on Wednesday from group circles, the Wolfsburg car manufacturer wants to compete with another vehicle brand in North America. In a few years, the VW Group will be offering electric pick-ups and off-road SUVs under the “Scout” brand name. The supervisory board approved this expansion of the US business in the evening.
“Scout” is said to play a key role in Volkswagen’s planned expansion into the American car market. Group boss Herbert Diess had announced several times in the past few weeks that VW would have to step out of its role as a niche supplier in the USA and significantly increase its market share.
“We are currently at four percent. We are aiming for ten percent,” Diess announced last week when presenting the latest quarterly balance sheet. The VW CEO wants to achieve this goal in the USA by 2030. If the Volkswagen Group succeeds in implementing these plans, the Wolfsburg-based company would sell more than two million cars a year in North America. “Now that Volkswagen has managed the turnaround in the USA, we are now taking the opportunity to further expand our position in one of the most important growth markets for electric vehicles,” said Diess after the Supervisory Board’s decision.
According to VW, the expansion of US sales also serves to reduce the Group’s heavy dependence on the important Chinese car market.
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Brand taken over with Navistar
“Scout” will only offer electric vehicles that will be robust and off-road. In the initial phase, two models are initially planned, a pick-up and an SUV. A start of sales of the new “Scout” vehicles is expected to be possible in 2026, it was also said in Wolfsburg.
With the new offer, Volkswagen is reacting to the recent sales successes of the large US car companies General Motors (GM) and Ford. Electric pick-ups are sold out at both companies in the long term. New providers such as Tesla and Rivian are also planning high sales figures for their pick-up models.
The US flag on the radiator grille of a Volkswagen: The VW Group wants to expand its America business with a new subsidiary and the “Scout” brand.
(Photo: dpa)
Volkswagen believes it has a good chance of being able to have a say in the future with “Scout” for robust, electrically powered vehicles in the USA. “Scout” is also a well-known brand in the American car market. SUV-like cars were sold under this name in the United States until the early 1980s. Then production was stopped, the naming rights were held by the American truck manufacturer Navistar.
New platform probably not in Chattanooga
Navistar has been part of the Volkswagen Group for two years – and with it the “Scout” brand, which the Wolfsburg-based company wants to revive in the next few years. The fact that the name still has a certain level of awareness in North America reduces the risk of competing with another car brand in the USA, it was said in Wolfsburg.
Expanding the model portfolio under the Volkswagen brand is hardly possible. VW stands for passenger cars, not for off-road vehicles. Volkswagen initially wants to invest around 100 million euros in the construction and development of the new US subsidiary. Larger investments are not initially planned. But in the coming years, “Scout” is likely to become a project worth billions. Setting up your own production alone will cost around one billion euros.
>>> Read here: Why Volkswagen wants to become more independent of China
The VW Group wants to develop platform technology for the new off-road vehicles that is not based on existing European concepts such as the “modular electrification kit” (MEB). The future “Scout” models should therefore not be manufactured in the existing VW factory in Chattanooga in the US state of Tennessee. Volkswagen is now producing the ID.4 there, an electric SUV based on the MEB, which is well-known from Europe. According to the current planning status, it is unclear where a future “Scout” factory could be built in the USA.
If possible, Volkswagen does not want to finance the revival of the car brand entirely on its own. The Wolfsburg manufacturer is therefore looking for partners. An IPO could also follow later, according to corporate circles. Volkswagen is already pursuing similar financing models elsewhere. The battery division is also to be floated on the stock exchange in two to three years. VW is working with energy companies to expand the charging infrastructure.
The development of additional car brands has become almost routine business at Volkswagen in recent years. The entry-level brand “Jetta” has been in China since 2019. Four years ago, the Spanish subsidiary Seat brought the sporty brand “Cupra” to the dealers, which has now become an important source of income for Seat.
However, new car brands do not automatically mean success. Toyota wanted to establish the entry-level brand “Scion” in the USA. Because of the low sales figures, the project was discontinued in 2016 after about ten years.
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