ReutersMon, May 11, 2026 at 6:06 AM UTC

Scott Keogh, CEO of Scout Motors, speaks during a media preview ahead of the IAA Munich auto show, in Munich, Germany, September 7, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s U.S. brand Scout was designed from the start to ‌pursue a potential stock market listing ‌or to allow strategic investors to take a stake, ​its CEO Scott Keogh told daily Handelsblatt, as it explores new funding options.

• Scout was deliberately set up as a stand-alone entity, Keogh ‌said. Outside capital ⁠was “an option that is on the table”, Keogh said in the interview ⁠with the German business newspaper

• Keogh pointed to U.S. investment funds focused on what he ​called the ​country’s “industrial renaissance”, without ​naming specific investors

• Volkswagen ‌wants to use Scout to increase its small U.S. market share, but internal doubts have grown over launching a new electric unit at a time of weakening demand, Handelsblatt said

• ‌Keogh said that the ​bet on robust trucks and ​SUVs with ​so‑called range extenders had paid off, ‌adding that 87% of more ​than 170,000 ​pre-orders were for that drive type, according to the paper

• Production of a new ​Audi model ‌on Scout’s flexible platform was also possible, ​Keogh told the paper

(Reporting by Kirsti ​KnolleEditing by Ludwig Burger)