Scout CEO expects first deliveries in 2028

Originally, Volkswagen intended to revive the US brand Scout as early as 2027. However, Scout CEO Scott Keogh has now confirmed that the first deliveries will take longer than expected. In an interview with US media, he stated that the first customers will likely not receive their vehicles until sometime in 2028. (UPDATE BELOW)

With this statement, Scott Keogh indirectly confirmed a report by Der Spiegel from February, which suggested that the start of production for the first vehicles would likely be delayed until summer 2028. While Keogh did not directly address the production start during the fireside chat with members of the Automotive Press Association in Detroit—logically preceding the first customer deliveries—he did state: “When do I see the cars in the hands of a physical customer? I see that sometime in 2028.”

“The first thing I don’t want to do is play the communication game of, ‘What exact day and what hour are you launching the car?’ when we’re doing something as ambitious as this,” he added. “So the most important thing to me is one, we’re on course, and we’re on plan. Number two, put a killer product in the hands of a customer, that’s an absolute home run, without a doubt.”

Prototype production at still planned for 2026

During the media discussion, Keogh also confirmed that his company plans to build the first prototypes at the new plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, later this year. Nevertheless, according to the aforementioned Der Spiegel report, the start of series production has allegedly been delayed until 2028. This delay is reportedly due to Scout’s decision to initially launch the vehicles—an SUV called the Traveler and a pickup called the Terra—with a range extender instead of as fully battery-electric vehicles. This change is said to have created additional development effort and triggered a domino effect.

While the Scout CEO did not confirm this directly, he did share an interesting figure that reflects the trend: Scout has already received 160,000 reservations for the two new models. Of these, 87% of customers opted for the variants with a range extender, leaving only 13% for the fully battery-electric models. Scout promises a range of 350 miles (563 km) for the battery-electric variants and 500 miles (805 km) for the range-extender models.

Reservations non-binding, SUV leads the way

While the trend regarding the drivetrain is relatively clear, the 160,000 reservations should not be overinterpreted: the process is entirely non-binding, as has long been common in China for new electric models. A Scout reservation merely requires a $100 payment to secure a place in the ‘queue’ when sales begin. If a customer ultimately decides against purchasing a Scout, the $100 is refunded. This process can therefore be seen more as a market research tool to gauge initial customer preferences for drivetrain types and whether they favour the SUV or the pickup. Scott Keogh also shared statistics on this: the Traveler SUV leads with around 75% of reservations, while roughly 25% are for the Terra pickup.

At the same time, VW faces potential challenges with its own dealership network regarding the revival of Scout. According to news agency Reuters, two US dealers have filed a lawsuit against VW, which could potentially become a class action involving additional dealers. They accuse VW of breaching its contract with VW dealers, as the group plans to sell Scout models exclusively through direct sales rather than via its established dealerships. VW declined to comment on the proceedings.

Update 13 April

AutoForecast Solutions (AFS), a data service provider for the global automotive supply chain, claims that Scout has postponed the start of production for the Traveler SUV from March 2028 to September 2028. According to AFS, production of the Terra pick-up will not begin until March 2030.

Scout, for its part, states that it has not spoken with AFS and that there are no new updates on the timeline. “As we’ve previously shared, initial production is targeted to begin in 2027. We will start producing initial validation vehicles this year. That effort will continue and mature into 2027. We expect customers will begin taking delivery of new Scout vehicles in 2028,” a company spokesperson said.

However, this wording leaves open whether the timeline applies to both models or only one.

thedrive.com, reuters.com, forbes.com, motor1.com (update)