Volkswagen gets ready to launch an electric SUV and truck brand to rival Rivian and others.
- VW names Scott Keogh, CEO and president of Volkswagen Group of America and head of the Volkswagen brand in North America since 2018, as president and CEO of the Scout electric truck and SUV brand.
- The first Scout models are due in 2026, with VW design chief Klaus Zyciora having showed sketches of an SUV and pickup truck earlier this spring.
- Pablo Di Si, who has served as executive chairman of Volkswagen South American Region, will assume Keogh’s post in September of this year.
Volkswagen surprised the auto industry earlier this year by revealing plans to launch Scout as a separate brand for electric trucks and SUVs, building upon a once-popular nameplate used by International Harvester until about forty years ago. The ambitious agenda was officially revealed only about two months ago, with VW design chief Klaus Zyciora sharing a sketch of an electric truck and SUV in the shape of the original IH Scout models, slated to arrive in 2026.
But the VW Group also launched Scout as a separate company, intending to distance it from its own VW, Audi, Porsche, and Bentley brands stateside, to create what it called a “‘true American’ electric rugged SUV and pickup,” keeping it distinct from its ID sub-brand of EVs. Zyciora’s sketch made it clear the Scout models wouldn’t be lightly disguised VW or Audi vehicles—the Scout brand is intended to have a very unique identity—with the company undertaking an effort to relaunch the brand from square one. Not an easy task.
The person who will lead this entirely new company is Scott Keogh, the automaker revealed this week. Keogh has been the CEO and president of Volkswagen Group of America and head of the Volkswagen brand in North America since 2018, and since 2012 he headed Audi of America.
Keogh has been credited with bringing ID.4 production stateside, with the automaker’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant about to begin production of the electric SUV, while dealing with the industry pressures of the past two and a half years. The new head of Scout is also credited in his relatively short tenure with overseeing VW’s return to profitability stateside for the first time in years.
Pablo Di Si, who has been executive chairman of Volkswagen South American Region, will take over Keogh’s role as president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, as well as the role of CEO of Volkswagen North American Region on September 1.
“Scott Keogh and Pablo Di Si both have played key roles in turning around the businesses in their respective regions, North America and South America,” said Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess. “In their future positions, they will be pivotal in helping the Group seize the historic market opportunities in the US, taking our growth strategy in the region to the next level.”
Quite a lot of work looms ahead during a tumultuous and unpredictable time in the industry. Keogh will effectively need to launch at least one new EV model in a time span shorter than the development cycle of the VW ID. Buzz, to name just one model.
Production will of course take place stateside, though we haven’t heard of any concrete plans for expanding the Chattanooga hub to accommodate Scout production starting in 2026, even though this would be the most obvious candidate for a Scout production site. Whether Scout vehicles will share VW’s widely used MEB EV platform—employed now in Chattanooga for the imminent launch of the ’23 VW ID.4 crossover EV—remains to be seen but would be much less expensive (and faster) than engineering a separate architecture. The company is expected to raise funds via an IPO, following the well-worn startup route, instead of relying entirely on VW Group funding.
It’s an ambitious project for sure, with VW having an unobstructed view of failed EV startups sitting in the ditch, in addition to half-dead zombie EV startups perpetually on the brink of starting to produce models. Even Rivian, which is currently producing an electric truck and SUV that Scout will compete with in just four short years, is battling rough seas nearly a year after production began, and is by no means having an easy time. So Scout’s future success is far from guaranteed, we should note.
But the effort over the next four years and further down the road will be among Volkswagen’s most ambitious plans in the US in decades.
Keyword: Here’s Who Will Lead VW’s Scout EV Brand