VW’s EV Subsidiary May be Scouting for Public Offering in Future

Scott Keogh, Scout’s CEO, told Handelsblatt the company was designed to be its own company from the get-go. The move to draw cash from investors was “an option that is on the table,” he told the German newspaper over the weekend.

He noted that despite the company’s delayed production schedule, spinning off from its German parent company is still a realistic possibility. He noted there are U.S. investor groups still bullish on the growth of electric vehicles and the country’s “industrial renaissance.” He didn’t offer specific firms.

Before there is a public offering, VW officials are hoping the Scout will fulfill its mission of expanding the German automaker’s market share in the U.S. However, the recent production delays has engendered some doubt in the mind of many top decision makers, Handelsblatt reported.

Keogh, who headed up VW of America before taking the lead role at Scout, ​noted the company’s robust trucks and SUVs paired with gasoline-powered range ​extenders have been the company’s most popular pre-ordered vehicles. In fact, ​87 percent ⁠of more than 170,000 pre-orders included range extenders.

Last month it was revealed Scout’s first vehicles will be delayed with the Traveler SUV not arriving until 2028 and the Terra pickup in 2030. AutoForecast Solutions, which produces a regular forecast of when vehicles will begin or change production,  said in a report that production of the Traveler SUV will begin Sept. 1, 2028. Meanwhile, the Terra pickup will start March 1, 2030. Both vehicles will be produced at the company’s new plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, just outside Columbia.

Both vehicles were initially slated to begin March 1, 2028, but the company is taking more time to shakedown the vehicles, the first for the newly formed company, which was created in 2022. Production was initially targeted for next year. 

Traveler orders came in at nearly a 3-to-1 ratio over the Terra pickup, Scout officials noted, adding there were more than 160,000 reservations for vehicles earlier this year. The Blythewood plant will be capable of producing 200,000 vehicles annually, and is expected to employ about 4,000 people when at full capacity. 

[Images: Scout Motors]

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