Audi Turns Scout Into Defender Rival in America

Audi is strengthening its hold on the North American market and is finally doing what its BMW and Mercedes rivals have been doing for years: manufacturing vehicles in the US.

The Volkswagen-owned luxury brand already lags behind its rivals in US sales, but its lack of a plant in the US means it is particularly vulnerable to tariffs, relying on imports from Europe and Mexico. Now, it plans to address this issue with a new luxury SUV that will rival the Land Rover Defender and be manufactured in the US.

This secret SUV will be a range-extender hybrid designed specifically for the US market and will be locally manufactured. But this does not mean that Audi is opening a new factory on American soil, according to a report by the German website Automobilwoche.

Instead, it will manufacture the SUV at its Blythewood, South Carolina, plant currently being constructed by VW-owned Scout Motors. Scout Motors expects to begin production of the Scout truck and SUV by the end of 2027.

Scout, a utility brand launched by International Harvester in the late 1950s but dormant since 1980, has been revived by VW in 2022 and plans to launch two vehicles: the Scout Traveler SUV and the Scout Terra truck.

The new Scout models feature a ladder-frame chassis, a first for Audi, and four-wheel drive systems with proper locking differentials. Although the Scout offers both fully electric and range-extender powertrains, more than 80 percent of bookings are for the range-extender, CEO Scott Keogh recently told Bloomberg.
While fully electric vehicles can cover 350 miles (563 km) on their 120 kWh batteries, range-extenders offer a range of around 500 miles (800 km), of which only 150 miles (240 km) come from their smaller batteries.

What could it look like?

Although Audi hasn't released any photos of its new powerful SUV, and we haven't seen it in spy photos yet, we've received strong indications from the automaker that an SUV is coming soon.

Earlier in 2025, Audi introduced the Q6 e-tron Offroad Concept, which featured portal axles and a significantly raised ride height, emphasizing how serious Audi is about creating a more off-road-focused machine.

Although Audi used the Q6 as the basis for that concept, the actual SUV, likely due in 2028, will be much larger and almost certainly more boxy, as shown in these photos below from @theottle.