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BERLIN/HAMBURG, March 1 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's supervisory board will discuss plans to build a new
U.S. factory at a meeting on Friday, two sources close to the
matter said, with one adding the board was expected to approve
the project.
The factory is a new plant for the Scout brand, according to
one of the sources, which Volkswagen has said will be designed,
engineered and manufactured in the United States with production
due to start in 2026.
Volkswagen declined to comment. The automaker has previously
said a decision on whether to build a plant for the brand had
not yet been made.
Volkswagen is expanding its existing U.S. plant in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, to produce the ID. Buzz - but the Scout
brand will build off-road electric pick-up trucks and SUVs that
require a new platform and the Chattanooga plant does not have
enough space to do it all, a source told Reuters last May.
Scout and Travelall vehicles made by International Harvester
were forerunners in both function and style of popular SUVs from
the Big Three Detroit automakers, such as the Ford Bronco and
General Motors' Chevrolet Suburban.
Harvester stopped building the Scout and Travelall in 1980,
but Volkswagen's Traton SE business acquired U.S. truck maker
Navistar in 2020, which owns the Scout name.
Volkswagen has said reintroducing the brand is a key part of
its strategy to gain 10% market share in the United States.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Jan Schwartz; Editing by
Friederike Heine and Mark Potter)
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