Volkswagen names a new CEO to drive its electric truck and SUV spinoff Scout

Volkswagen names a new CEO to drive its electric truck and SUV spinoff Scout

The electric rebirth of classic off-road SUV brand Scout is getting real this week as Volkswagen named Scott Keogh as CEO of its new spinoff company. The former head of VW Group America, as initially reported by Axios, prompted VW to launch a new electric truck line after seeing a fully restored vintage Scout: "The rights to the brand just sat there. Were." Keogh said.

VW acquired the Scout brand through the 2020 merger of its commercial trucking company Trautan with Navistar, which the German automaker initially bought in 2016. In May, it was reported that VW Group was ready to pump $1 billion into new Scout brands and sets. Aiming to sell a quarter million electric off-roaders of the same name annually from 2026.

Keogh now heads Volkswagen's management board in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with all VW North American responsibilities resting on current South American VW chief Pablo Di Cie. "Now is the time to focus more on the US market and the US customer, and one piece of the puzzle is definitely the scout," Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess told Axios in an interview. Per the report, the company said it will develop "True American" electric SUVs and pickup trucks, as it attempts to restore a reputation tarnished by the "Dieselgate" emissions scandal.

VW hopes the Scout will be the answer to electric vehicles doubling its 5 percent US market share; The automaker hit a roadblock this year after including all of its EV offerings - the ID.4 and Audi e-tron - for 2022. In its previous life, Scout built an off-road SUV to compete with Jeep in the 1960s and is now reborn as a company that could (and probably will) flourish separately from VW. . itself) so it may try to go head-to-head with electric SUVs and trucks which are a popular category in the US.

It remains to be seen whether Scout will design older retro looking SUVs like the indefinitely delayed Bollinger B1/B2 and Hummer EV or whether it will replace other mid-sized and compact SUVs with well-worn nameplates like the Ford Mustang Mach. will change. The trend will follow-e and the new Chevy Blazer. One thing's for sure: the company is working on vehicles that are used for camping, off-roading, or work—a clear sign that Ford's F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T electric pickups are top targets.