Volkswagen "Scouts" South Carolina for New EV Factory
International Harvester has been defunct for nearly 40 years, but one of its most iconic products continues to draw significant interest today. The Scout was a line of pickup trucks and SUVs that remain desirable today, thanks to growing interest in vintage off-roaders. Volkswagen purchased the rights to the Scout name and hopes to capitalize on that nostalgia with a line of electric vehicles. The automaker recently shared some teaser images and updates on the production of the highly anticipated EVs.
VW’s Scout has shared a few highly-edited photos of its upcoming electric pickup truck and SUV, but the images are tantalizingly vague. We’ve already seen “blueprint-like” plans for the vehicles, and the teasers don’t stray from those outlines.
The bigger story here is that VW plans to build the new vehicles in South Carolina and has a massive investment lined up to get started. Scout will get a $2 billion factory that will eventually house 4,000 jobs and an annual production capacity of 200,000 EVs. The automaker plans to start the production lines in 2026.
Scout CEO Scott Keogh, formerly of VW USA, said that the Inflation Reduction Act played a role in the company’s decision to build in America. The new EV tax credit rules limit vehicles’ final construction location and where automakers can source raw materials, so a domestic factory is prudent.
[Image: Scout via Instagram]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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So the Biden Administration's IRA is having an immediate effect - how about that.
I am curious to see when (and if at all) the Scout plant starts producing these things, if they will be as successful in eating another good size of the Jeep Pie like the Broncos did. I am surprised to see buyers pay an arm and a leg for these boxy, boring looking, non-luxurious, low-rent pretend-off road vehicles (pretend because their owners never take the damned things off road, but to the damned Mall, or their college dorms, thanks to their (literal) sugardaddies.
VoGhost--That is what VW is counting on and I hope they are correct. Nice to see the Scout name back and a retro Scout even if it is all EV it is good. I have good memories growing up of Scouts and IH pickups I learned to drive on my grandfathers 63 IH stepside. The town close to my grandparents farm had an IH and Oldsmobile dealership where he bought trucks and cars from.
My oldest already has a Scout EV. It's an RC ;)