Volkswagen’s new Scout Motors EV division on Friday confirmed that its first mannequin can be a $40,000 electrical SUV to be constructed at a brand new $2 billion manufacturing facility close to Columbia, South Carolina.
Scout, which plans to construct rugged EVs impressed by the traditional International Harvester Scout SUV produced from 1960 to 1980, mentioned in a press launch that the manufacturing facility will produce 200,000 automobiles yearly when at full capability, and can create not less than 4,000 everlasting jobs.
Groundbreaking for the South Carolina manufacturing facility is deliberate for mid-2023, with manufacturing anticipated to begin by the tip of 2026, the model mentioned. The first mannequin produced can be a “rugged utility vehicle” or “RUV,” Scout CEO Scott Keogh mentioned in an interview with TechCrunch, adopted “in quick succession” by a bigger electrical pickup truck.
Teaser for Scout SUV idea
Keogh mentioned the utility automobile goals for a base worth within the $40,000 vary, whereas the pickup can be “a bit north of there.”
Both fashions are as a result of be unveiled in 2024. That might characterize a slight delay. Volkswagen introduced Scout in May 2022, and it mentioned then that first prototypes could be proven in 2023. VW sellers have been utterly shocked by the announcement, which successfully bypasses them for a Tesla-like gross sales mannequin. The 2026 manufacturing timeline has remained constant all through, nevertheless.
Also constant is straightforward, squared-off styling. A teaser launched by Scout alongside the manufacturing facility announcement reveals shapes broadly just like the sketches launched by VW in 2022. That design language will assist join the trendy Scout EVs to their Nineteen Sixties inspiration.
![1971-80 International Harvester Scout 1971-80 International Harvester Scout](https://i0.wp.com/images.hgmsites.net/lrg/1971-80-international-harvester-scout_100730467_l.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1)
1971-80 International Harvester Scout
Produced by International Harvester, an organization largely recognized for tractors and industrial automobiles, the unique Scout was one of many first SUVs. VW acquired the rights to the Scout title when it purchased International Harvester successor firm Navistar in 2020.
Like the unique, the Scout EVs will each use a body-on-frame platform, VW beforehand confirmed. This platform will possible be unique to Scout, however would possibly borrow parts from different VW Group platforms. The dad or mum firm hasn’t dominated out sharing the Scout platform with different manufacturers—and it reportedly would possibly with Audi.
Yet with so many back-to-basics electrical SUVs within the works—together with an easier Rivian R2, and the Jeep Recon—will there be sufficient of a market left by the point Scout arrives?
Source: www.greencarreports.com