Volkswagen Group’s resurrected car brand Scout will rely on Magna Steyr for both design and production, Kleine Zeitung reports. The company, which is famous for producing the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, has reportedly received a record €450,000,000 by entering this deal.
Our initial expectation was that Volkswagen would handle all the design processes in-house, without involving third parties in anything but the production. However, according to the German newspaper, the concept has changed since the initial announcement. A new industrial site will be built in the USA to produce Scout cars, and Magna Steyr will handle everything from conceptualization to delivery.
While not official, reports are coming in that the revived brand will first introduce an electric SUV and a truck on the same platform/tech. In earlier news, the media learned that the company intended to make its EVs every bit as off-road-capable as their historic predecessors built by International Harvester. Later on, the same architecture could be reused by Audi for its own SUV. In the end, Magna Steyr vehicles could begin to compete with the electric Mercedes G-Class.
Volkswagen said it hoped to launch the Scout factory in the USA in late 2026. Once at nominal capacity, it is expected to churn out 200,000 vehicles every year.