Audi is reportedly preparing a body-on-frame off-road SUV built on Scout Motors' platform, with an unnamed US official putting annual production at 25,000 vehicles at Scout's Blythewood, South Carolina plant. Neither Audi nor Scout has confirmed the vehicle or its production home.
The figure surfaced around President Trump's announcement of a separate $4 billion Audi assembly plant in Georgia, and was first reported by CNBC. Scout Motors said on October 24 that it had nothing to announce.
Where the 25,000 figure comes from
The number was attributed to an unnamed US official speaking alongside Trump's Georgia factory announcement, with CNBC first reporting it. Some of that South Carolina output could be earmarked for export, according to the same account.
The plant itself is not in doubt. Volkswagen Group, Audi's parent, is investing $2 billion in the Blythewood facility to revive Scout as a body-on-frame off-road brand. What Audi has never said is that it will build anything there.
Why Scout's platform matters to Audi
A Scout tie-up would give Audi a body-on-frame architecture it does not currently build anywhere, rather than reworking a unibody SUV such as the Q9. Scout's Traveler SUV and Terra pickup were previewed as concepts with distinct luxury and beadlock-wheeled trims, and are body-on-frame from the ground up.
Both Scout models were shown with fully electric drive. The company now describes plans for them to be offered either as all-electric models or with a gas-powered Harvester range-extender setup, a two-path strategy aimed at easing range anxiety for buyers heading off pavement.
Audi has floated a rugged SUV before, with an off-road concept, but had never tied the idea to a specific American factory or a production number until this leak surfaced. That makes the reported 25,000-unit plan the first concrete link between the Audi brand and Scout's factory floor.
Döllner's business case
Audi CEO Gernot Döllner has already raised the idea publicly. "After the Q9 launched, we could also think about next steps and extending our portfolio in both directions," he said, pointing to rugged SUVs and sports cars beyond the current lineup.
Döllner has named the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Land Rover Defender as benchmarks. "The models do not sell in huge numbers, but they do generate very large amounts of revenue," he said.
That quote is effectively the argument for a low-volume, high-margin off-roader, exactly the shape of vehicle Scout's platform could underpin. A 25,000-unit annual plan fits that mould: small next to Audi's volume models, but priced and positioned to earn well per vehicle.
What is still unconfirmed
Nobody at Audi has confirmed that South Carolina is where such a vehicle would be built. The model name, launch timing, pricing and market rollout have not been announced, and the sources carry no confirmed on-sale date or sticker price for the Audi off-roader.
The reported plan also sits alongside the separate $4 billion Audi plant announced for Georgia, a reminder that the brand's US manufacturing footprint is being redrawn on more than one front at once.
