Everyone who pre-ordered a new Scout is going to have to wait a bit longer to get the keys to their new ride. Per our friends over at the Drive, a report from Germany’s Der Spiegel claims the automotive startup that Volkswagen officially relaunched in 2022 plans to delay the start of production until the summer of 2028, not 2027 like Scout Motors originally planned for. As far as production delays go, one year isn’t too bad, but it also isn’t the best sign, especially coming from an automotive startup that’s still working on its first production vehicle.
As for why Scout’s pushing back production, the Der Spiegel report doesn’t have a lot of details, but it does cite “technical problems” and financial pressures. Scout also has yet to confirm the delay, telling Der Spiegel, “We currently have no update to our timeline or product plan to share.” Whether that means Der Spiegel’s reporting is incorrect, and production is still on schedule to begin in 2027, or it’s just not something Scout wants to talk about yet, at least for now, I’m inclined to believe the newspaper with a long track record of accurate industry reporting.
While we don’t know exactly what “technical problems” the development team is dealing with, apparently, the range-extender option that proved so popular with pre-orders has been a particular issue for Scout. Due to packaging limitations, Scout chose to stick the range extender at the back of the truck, and making that work hasn’t been easy. Turns out, when you hang an entire engine over the rear axle, that’s not exactly ideal for handling.
The problems reportedly keep adding up
Software development has reportedly also been a major issue at Scout. Volkswagen recently invested several billion dollars in Rivian, with the plan to have the American EV startup provide software for its upcoming electric vehicles. But according to Der Spiegel, Rivian’s software is EV-specific, leaving Scout to figure out how to make it all work with the range-extender’s engine management software. And that’s meant calling in assistance from Cariad, Volkswagen’s much-maligned in-house software development company.
As for the financial pressures, Republican-supported tariffs in the U.S. reportedly cost parent company Volkswagen billions of dollars last year and led to a 50,000-unit sales drop in the U.S. year-over-year. In fact, sales have been so bad here that Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume admitted in a recent interview that he’d given up on his goal of achieving a 10% market share in the U.S. across all Volkswagen brands. Throw in the Trump administration’s attempts to kill the EV industry in favor of enriching oil and gas execs who donated heavily to his campaign, and Volkswagen’s U.S. project isn’t looking like it’ll be turning around any time soon.
In some ways, you could argue that Volkswagen’s struggles in the U.S. make the Scout launch even more important for the company, but before that can happen, it has to finish construction of a $3 billion factory in South Carolina. At a time when money is tight, that’s a serious cost to take on, and assuming the first Scouts really have been delayed, Volkswagen’s now looking at another year before it begins recouping its investment, if not longer.
As cool as the Scout Terra and Traveler are, here’s hoping Volkswagen can figure out a way to get this startup off the ground without being forced to throw in the towel. But will it be able to? That definitely remains to be seen.
