You know how one side in a conflict would write a message on a bomb before dropping incendiary on the opposite side? Well, we didn’t know this at the time, but that’s why Volkswagen did a few weeks ago. The VW The group grabbed the hornet’s nest, wrote “Boyfriend” on it and brought it in Volkswagen American brand seller body. It seems the mum has neglected to tell her dealers that they are working on a battery-electrical revival of the Scout, which is especially unusual given that prototypes are due out next year and two products are announced. plans to manufacture at a new plant in the US in 2024. Normally around this time we would read the reports in Automotive News where anonymous dealers describe seeing early versions of an amazing, no-name new product that will rock the US market. Instead, the only thing the agents are describing is their confusion and doubt.
To be still received Autonews report, just with a different tone. Scott Keogh, CEO of VW USA, said that as an indication of how secretive VW is operating. ONE“Everything that I know has been reported and you reported it.”
Some 650 Volkswagen dealers in the US are concerned that the automaker plans to disrupt the traditional dealer model with the Scout. When it was announced, the automaker said the Scout brand would be “an independent, separate company … incorporated in the United States,” and Keogh said. ONE “it will not be operated through the Volkswagen brand. In fact, it will not be operated through Volkswagen Group of America. It will be run independently”, with its own management team. National agency and state agency agencies have blown up Keogh’s email inbox and likely old-fashioned mailbox. with certified letters taking turns asking and demanding to know what the distribution plan was.Apart from the sanctity of agency franchise law, their strong point was that they had to endure beatings from dealers. diesel shops, they invested in the electrification overhaul needed to sell products like ID.4 and got a few precious ID.4s for sale, and they asked for the same products as the Scout – a solid pickup and SUV. So why don’t they have a chance to sell the Scouts?
Everything VW execs have said in the meantime is based on dealer suspicions, that VW is planning a standalone Scout franchise or possibly a direct sale, and Existing stores can go unnoticed. ONE wrote that US Sales Manager Andrew Savvas informed dealers “they will have no claim for [Scout] product. “The President of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association told Keogh,” THe widely believes that the fundamental reason VW is planning to create a parallel dealer network is VW’s intention to reduce the number of VW dealerships. “
Even production will be separated from the VW brand. VW Group is expanding and overhauling its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant to build the ID line, but said last week it would decide on a location for the Scout production facility, which could include a the battery manufacturing plants, too, later this year.
Keogh advises salespeople that they will have answers to their questions “when there’s a Scout management team, that team goes to the press, meets the market, and tells its story. And that’s really all that needs to be said.” Oh my God. The only glimmer of hope for dealers comes from rubbing two separate claims against each other. Group CFO Arno Antlitz says Reuters that the brand is considering electric pickups as part of its plans to electrify the VW brand, as well as commercial vehicles, and Keogh said the new platform Scout will use “can certainly present an opportunity for vehicles are not Scouts.”
But a storm is approaching. And somewhere in there, there will be an Atlas-sized SUV and a Ford The Ranger-sized pickup is expected to start at around $40,000.
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