Audi plans to produce 25,000 vehicles annually at Scout Motors' South Carolina plant, according to a U.S. official cited in a Reuters report. Audi CEO Gernot Dollner announced the company's first American manufacturing facility, a Georgia plant set to build 200,000 Q7, Q8, and Q9 units per year.
The South Carolina production capacity suggests Audi could build body-on-frame vehicles at a facility designed solely for Scout brand SUVs and trucks. This aligns with a November report indicating Audi planned a body-on-frame product at the Scout factory. Audi has teased off-road additions to its lineup, including a Q6 concept with portal axles revealed in January 2025.
Building trucks in the U.S. would allow Audi to avoid tariffs on imported cars and capture margin in the American luxury SUV market. By using existing Scout factory infrastructure for Audi production, the company could create a competitor to the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen and Land Rover Defender.