VW’s Scout brand begins production of first test vehicles at new US plant

Volkswagen's revived US brand Scout has begun assembling the first validation vehicles at its new plant in Blythewood, South Carolina. As the factory is still under construction, it will be several more months before Scout vehicles are running off production lines in series.

Image: Scout

Volkswagen Group revealed plans to launch a fully electric pickup and a “rugged” electric SUV in the US under the Scout brand inMay 2022. The company followed up with the announcement in March 2023 that it will locate the construction of its own Scout vehicle plant in South Carolina. Today, Volkswagen describes this as an investment of more than two billion US dollars, expected to create over 4,000 jobs.

Construction of the new car factory in the 5,000-inhabitant town of Blythewood is now in its final phase. According to the company, most of the production equipment has been installed, and Scout teams are now commissioning these systems.

With these new production facilities, Scout has already begun manufacturing the first validation vehicles. These will enable the company to verify vehicle technology, production feasibility, and component quality while ensuring the newly installed equipment is set up and functioning as intended. At the same time, the manufacturing teams will gain practical experience for the later phases of process validation and production ramp-up.

Scout CEO describes “visible progress”

“What we are building in Blythewood is no longer a promise on paper,” said Keogh. “Our equipment is coming to life, and our teams are building our first validation vehicles right here in the factory. For everyone waiting for a new Scout SUV or truck, this is real progress you can see.”

The body shop, paint shop, and assembly hall are already operational. Robots handle tasks requiring precision and repeatability, while employees monitor processes, assess quality, and verify the performance of the newly installed equipment in the plant workflow. The automaker is using AI-assisted weld seam monitoring.

“Installing equipment is one milestone. Putting it to work and learning from it is another,” said Production Manager Oliver Wollinsky, who previously established the first all-electric car factory for the SAIC-Volkswagen joint venture in China. “That is the progress underway in Blythewood today that we’ll continue to build upon in the months and years to come.”

Validation vehicle production until 2027

According to the company, the validation vehicles will continue to be built and optimised into next year, while Scout Motors prepares for the next phase of pre-series production. As development progresses, manufacturing feasibility improves, and component quality is optimised, the production team will transition from setting up and testing the equipment to trialling manufacturing processes and ultimately scaling these processes towards series production.

However, the exact start date for series production of the models Scout Traveler (SUV) and Terra (pickup) remains unclear. In spring, Scout mentioned a production start in 2027, but deliveries are not expected to begin until 2028.

Originally, Scout was only supposed to launch fully electric vehicles. However, plans changed after 87 per cent of the — albeit non-binding — reservations were for electric vehicles with a range extender. Currently, Scout has already received 210,000 reservations. These are not actual pre-orders but merely a place in a virtual queue to be among the first to order a vehicle later. Reserving a spot in the queue costs 100 US dollars, which will be refunded if an order is not placed later on.

According to CEO Scott Keogh, 75 per cent of reservations are for the Scout Traveler SUV. This means Scout will likely begin series production with the Scout Traveler with a range extender first, followed by the Terra pickup with a range extender, and only then the fully electric vehicles, says Keogh.

Audi vehicles also to be built at Scout plant

In conjunction with Audi’s announcement of its own US plant in Georgia on 24 October 2026, the Volkswagen Group revealed that Audi intends to utilise the new Scout plant in South Carolina as part of its network. This involves producing around 25,000 vehicles per year. Exactly which Audi model will be built there remains unclear. At _electrive_, we’re tipping it’s likely to be a new sister model to the Scout vehicles.