Volkswagen-backed startup Scout Motors broke cover just a few months ago, and at this week’s CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, they hold the honor of being one of the only American automakers with a presence at the show.
That’s not the only thing that stands out about Scout being here, though. In a sea of screens, AI, and voice assistants, Scout is sticking to a far more classic approach with its two vehicles, the Traveler SUV and the Terra pickup. That means regular old door handles, not ones that magically pop out of the side of the car, as well as optional gas-powered range extenders on both vehicles. And it means buttons — lots of buttons — at a time when many major automakers seem to think physical toggles, levers, or knobs are passé.
Scout’s not anti-tech. After all, its vehicles will be among the first to use the software and electrical architecture from the newly formed joint venture between Rivian and Volkswagen. Rather, this approach is in keeping with the company’s lineage as a mid-20th century auto brand.
The shadow of Volkswagen looms large over Scout’s efforts. Will the German giant really stand by and let a new American offshoot sink or swim, or is it standing by like a worried parent? For what it’s worth, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume defended the choice to let Scout chart its own course at an event on the sidelines of CES 2025, saying he was determined to bring back an “American icon.”
Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh has taken that independence and run with it. The former head of both VW America and Audi of America sat down with TechCrunch at the show to share what it’s like to run an automotive startup, how he plans to take care of customers when the vehicles hit the road in 2027, and, of course — his philosophy on buttons.
This interview has been edited for length.
You have run some pretty storied brands, Audi of America being one of them. Give me three big differences between running what is ostensibly a startup versus running a more traditional automaker like that.
I think Scout is storied as well. We’re going to make it more storied when we’re done with what we’re doing.
I think the first one is, look, you can be used to having a big operation behind you, and a lot of people to do a lot of things. When we started, we had basically no payroll system, we had no company car program, and it was me. So, number one, when you turn behind you to see who was there, it was just you, and you had to go figure it out and go do it, and go from there.
I think the second thing is you’re literally thinking about your survival almost each and every day. And I think at a classic, traditional company, it’s going to run, it’s going to be there. Here you’re thinking about survival, and what’s going to be next, and where do we get the next funding from, and where the next idea is coming from.
The third one is honestly a liberation, right? Because with running storied companies, you have storied machines moderating this big thing. It’s quite liberating when you can come up with ideas and see it literally executed, and maybe not have to make 400 PowerPoint slides and present at 18 different board meetings. So there’s a liberating side. There’s also the panic side of being all alone, but I’m loving it.
From what I’ve seen, It looks like a very, maybe not fully developed, but a pretty developed set of vehicles. Can you tell me about where in the process you are, how much you expect to change, and how much work went into getting to a near fully developed point before you actually showed things off to the world?
As Scout, we wanted to be a linear, pragmatic, straightforward brand, so we’re not fans of, like: “Here’s some crazy concept car,” and then it’s never gonna see the light of day, and there’s a total disconnect. We wanted to be a little bit old-school and, like: “Here’s what we’re showing, here’s what we’re making.” So as you figured out, we are pretty far along. We have actual mules out on the road. We’re testing for noise, we’re testing for durability. We’re getting the mileage out there, particularly in the suspension, the drive units and all of that.
So yeah, we are actively testing, actively [testing] durability, actively validating, as we speak. And also we’re marrying the product to production. That’s where we’re getting into all the workability issues, all the manufacturability issues, and all of that. So yeah, it’s real, but that’s what we wanted to be at Scout. We didn’t want to show some dream that was nonsense and not have it manifest itself in a real product. We want to be pragmatic and straight.
Is there anything different about that process of ironing everything out compared to the approach you would have taken with a larger automaker?
I think a lot of the substantial stuff is quite similar. Validation is validation. You have to put the miles on the car. You have to make sure everything works, testing for the character that you want in the car in terms of noise and harshness and everything else.
Historically, as you know, I was running an American sales outpost of a European division. So to get the pipeline into engineering and into the factory would obviously be a little bit slower. Here, everything is super direct and super fast because, frankly, many of them [are] in a room just like this, and we’re all within 20 to 30 feet of each other, which is something I really like — that you can get something happening in the mule, or happening with the customer reaction, and instantly take action on it, which is great.
Now there’s a downside of that. You have to be careful not to take every impulse and spin the entire organization, because what we don’t have is extra people. You need to pick a path and execute on it. If you start to spin, that slows down. It gets people disoriented. So it’s a critical thing about when to take action on the impulses that we’re seeing, but much faster, much more direct in general.
What Scout is presenting to the world feels more purposeful than a lot of the other electric vehicle startups we’ve seen come out over the last couple years.
What goes into that? How do you balance that with the speed that you operate at — trying to make sure that you’re focused on those customers that you’re going to eventually have — versus fighting those impulses?
I think you’re exactly right. I think we had two things balanced. I think one thing we definitely felt the burden of restoring an icon, and by restoring an icon, we knew there was a legacy, and we knew there was an awful lot of people who held this legacy true and dear. And we didn’t want to half-bake it. We didn’t want to be disingenuous and do some wallpaper exercise and not make a real car of love and character. So we had that against us.
And then you’re right, we had a target profile. We had a target customer. We wanted to make sure we built a car to them, and we asked a lot of the tough questions. But I think the number one thing we wanted to do was make sure this car had credibility. And I think you’ve seen it with the body on frame. I think you’ve seen it with the solid rear axle. I think you’ve seen it with the, let’s say, matter-of-fact engineering with regard to the door handles and switches and things like that. And I think that plays both ways. I think it plays to the heritage of the original brand and it plays to this American moment.
But you’re right, whether it’s the UX that you may or may not see as we navigate this thing, or the range extender that we augmented onto the basic engineering thing, we 100% listen to the old-school world of Scout and the customers who we’re making the car for. Honestly, it all got confirmed when we did the unveiling in Tennessee. People said: “yeah!”
So I think you’re right. If you build it around a customer and you build it around a brand idea, beautiful things can happen, versus… yeah, just kind of spinning around, absolutely.
What is your plan for taking care of those customers once these vehicles hit the road?
I think you’re right. I’ve, in my mind, already been sort of looking past the phase of… we have a really good car, it’s going to get engineered well. We have a factory we’re in the process of building, and I have few doubts we’ll get it ramped up. There’ll be challenges, huge ones, and we’ll get it there.
I think first and foremost what you need to do is invest. You have to invest in the infrastructure to take care of customers, and that takes an awful long time to set up, whether it’s warehouses and the ability to ship parts, whether it’s the logistics to be able to make sure the cars and parts and technicians can get there, the training for the people to repair the cars, and everything else.
So in my mind, the way I look at it is, one, as you know, we will be a direct to consumer brand. We will build, directly, the relationship. That allows them to buy the car transparently. It allows them to buy the car with super no-hassle, super-speed, because we’re orchestrating the entire process around that.
The other thing once you pass that is how we service the car. I think first and foremost, we’ve been talking a little bit in other conversations about the architecture of the vehicle, but first and foremost, we’re going to be able to do a lot to update the cars and keep them up to speed remotely.
The second thing, we can do an awful lot of things in the driveway itself. We’ll bring technicians, we’ll come to your house and make the repairs and do it. And the third one is the investment. So we will build out an infrastructure where we can demonstrate the cars, and sell the cars, but also repair the cars.
I think the other thing also, we have to be pragmatic and straightforward. We will not be 100% in every community in America, 50 states, right off the bat, we want to build it up. We’re only going to move to another market when we properly handle the markets that we’re in.
But you are right. Nothing will drop the Scout brand faster than “I love this car” and you drop the ball on parts availability. You drop the ball on trained technicians being able to fix it. You drop the ball on keeping your promises. I’m confident we will do all that, but we have to invest to do it, and that’s what we’re doing. It’s in our business case, it always has been. But I’m with you. The finish line is not the car coming down the line. The finish line is way past that.
You mentioned direct to consumer, and now that you are out in the public talking about what you’re planning to do, you’re facing challenges. You have states that are giving you some pushback on the direct to consumer sales model. What percentage of your brain does that occupy? How much time do you and the company devote to having to work out that particular problem, and what do you say to convince these people that your way is the right way?
Yeah, I don’t think you say much. I think you execute. And I think the best way to do that is to have a customer go through the process, have a customer do it, and have a customer say this thing’s fantastic and brilliant. I’m a big fan of say less, and execute, and do it really, really well. What we do know without a doubt, there is a big appetite amongst the American population for doing this well and doing this right.
In terms of my time — look, my time is occupied by thousands of little things and gigantic things, and it’s always moving. It’s always there. Obviously, we have an entire division of our company that’s doing exactly that, and we have guys that have traditional experience in logistics and warehouse stocking and flow and all of that. We have a lot of guys who have phenomenal, phenomenal technology on the direct to consumer front. And then, as you said, there’s a big logistical angle. There’s a monstrous paperwork angle about how to handle that. And it’s a complicated thing, transacting a car, and signatures, and all the things that come with it.
But the great thing is, you have technology now where you are not building off of an archaic architecture and you’re trying to put a layer on that thing. You’re building the entire architecture with the express strategy of executing this. And that is, one, it opens the mind and, two, it opens the opportunity. So it’s a portion of my time, but certainly not 100%, I’ve got a lot of things going on.
I’d say the number one thing is, to go back to the point you were making previously, is I’m focused on this community, because I know these reservation holders are going to become our ambassadors out there, and that’s what I spend a lot of time on. How can we do this right so we build a community? And brands that do that well — and I think we can probably all name real community oriented brands — they succeed, full stop.
Do you expect some of those owners to really take up that fight? I mean, I remember Tesla in the early days, it was Tesla owners who were calling their representatives making sure that those things changed. It didn’t work in every state, but they were out there in front of the fight. Do you expect the same thing will happen with Scout reservation holders?
Look, I think our reservation holders will get in front of the fight on all fronts. But honestly, it’s not my job to light that spark. My job is to continue to communicate, tell the story, and if you try to force it, it’ll never happen, because it’s not organic. If it’s something they believe in, well, they’ll raise their hands and they’ll do that. So I think 100% we will build a community that’s behind everything that we’re doing, from great jobs in South Carolina, to the technology in the car, to selling in 50 states, and on and on.
The community was a big push behind jumping into the range extender. And, you know, Scouts basically go out into the world. And when they go out to the world, they listen to what’s going on, whether they’re listening to nature, they’re listening to trends, they’re listening to signals, and that’s what we will do as well. But what action the consumer takes? The consumer will make that decision. I think they’ll be behind us big-time.
The range extender is such a fascinating idea. I understand why everybody’s interested in it. Was that something that came along midstream, or was that something that you were thinking about early on?
We had it on the back burner. Always was something we were sort of thinking about.
There were a lot of people who said, “I love Scout. How about gas?” So it was always in our minds, and then maybe, nine-ish, 12 months ago, we said, “let’s take a look at it.” Early phase concept engineering team jumped on it. Within about 90 days, they put a really smart proposal on the table. And when we looked at it, we said, “it’s perfect,” because we didn’t sell our soul. The platform remains identical. Whether it’s an EV platform or extended-range. And then for manufacturability, it’s the same exact production.
So once I saw that solution where we didn’t have to sell our soul, and you could still get a Scout. All the great ability is still there, all the packaging is still there — that’s a perfect solution.
And what you see, honestly, is a lot of this has to do with emotions, let’s say, and lack of trust. And the instant you go to someone who’s like, “I hate EVs. EVs are terrible. That’s the end of the world”… but then they want to hear about it. They just drop the guard. And once someone drops their guard, well, then you’re open for a conversation.
The thing that surprised us, actually, is even from full-blown EV enthusiasts, they’re saying, “you know, a couple of times, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to have a little backup generator.” But in our minds, what we’ve seen is market expansion by 30, 40% by having it. So that’s huge in our business.
I know that you’ve talked about this a lot before the unveiling of your vehicles and even after, but there’s this sort of splitting in the industry between, do we go full touchscreen? Do we go buttons?
Oh I’m clear on this one.
Yeah, you guys are clearly on the side of buttons. But BMW unveiled its new UI this morning (at CES). They’re still pretty squarely on team “fewer buttons.” Why is that so important to you guys?
I think it’s important. On BMW, I think BMW will do what’s right for them and their customers. But for our customers, and what we’re doing, 100% this is the way to go.
I have this sort of thing where cars have become too disconnected. They’ve become disconnection machines. They’ve become a little bit dystopian. And I think the big thing we believe is we want to build this connection machine. It’s why we put a bench seat in the car. It’s why we put the old-school split tailgate. It’s why we have that big cabana roof that you’ve seen. And I think without a doubt, this fact of having a literal connection works, and customers like it. All the research has told us that, and all the reactions told us that.
It’s sort of like walking in this room. Do you want to just hit the light switch and turn the light on? It’s worked for 100 years. It’s super linear. It’s super direct. Or do you want to say, let me go in the room and grab my phone and grab my app and say, let me turn the lights on. No.
Door handles. That’s another classic. We’re building an outdoor car. We’re building a car of “can do,” and I’ve seen it again and again. People say I want to be in control. I want to do things. Sometimes it’s as simple as a switch, or even the differentials and everything else. We want customers to be engaged in the vehicles. It fits the brand. I think it’s right. And the reaction has been huge.
There’s a world of Tesla, which is an awesome world. They definitely said, “all these buttons are a ball of nonsense, we’re going to simplify one screen to rule them all.” Fantastic. But then everyone followed. So I’m not a fan of one application is the right one for all brands. We’re Scout, and what our customers want is to go back to this connection.
I believe in it strongly, because I think social media has made us disconnected, politics has made us disconnected. If you can build a car and build an environment — even if it’s as minuscule as a switch — that gets us back to this connection, that is good.
I think it’s cool. Americans are yearning for this. And I think it’s right for the moment, and right for our brand.
Buttons will save the world.
Buttons will save the world.