Scout platform and design almost ready, mules on roads next year

Not long after an Austrian publication reported on Volkswagen's partnership with Magna International to develop Scout's first two vehicles, Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh spoke to Automotive News and provided some refinements on the development and the timeline. Earlier this year, Scout hired Chris Benjamin as lead designer, Benjamin's 25 years in the auto business including six years at Fiat Chrysler/Stellantis overseeing interior design for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. Keogh told AN, "The design of the product is, I would say, 85, 90, 95 percent of the way there. ... Proportions readily dialed in, exterior design dialed in." The cabin's a bit further out, but he expects to take a seat in a full-sized interior model this week.

We're told the Scout Motors headcount comes in around 300 and gains roughly 50 heads per month. In addition to pulling in-house engineering talent from the VW Group tribe, like Scout chief technical officer Burkhard Huhnke, the company raided the headcounts of other OEMs including our big domestic names, plus Tesla and Rivian.

Early mules are expected to roll out of locked garages early next year, probably around the same time Scout breaks ground on its production facility in Blythewood, South Carolina — Keogh confirmed Magna isn't going to build the rigs. Those prototypes will ride on the Scout-specific, ground-up chassis developed with Magna's assistance, but that the CEO described as a "100 percent capable, American, robust, full platform." It has passed all of its tests on paper and in simulations, next year's road trials will begin the proof.