Scout appoints Jan Spies as new Head of Production
Jan Spies will become head of production for Volkswagen’s new US electric car brand Scout. Spies will serve as Chief Production Officer of Scout Motors from the beginning of 2024 and in this role will oversee the production of the brand’s electric pickup truck and SUV.
The Scout electric vehicles are reportedly scheduled to roll off the production line at a new plant in South Carolina from the end of 2026, for which Scout has now begun hiring its first employees. As Chief Production Officer, Spies is to ensure that the production of the Scout models can start according to the schedule – and in the desired quality.
Spies is described by his new employer as an “experienced expert in car production” and comes to Scout Motors with more than two decades of experience in the Volkswagen Group – including at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga (Tennessee), which opened in 2011 and now produces more than 250,000 vehicles a year. Spies has been Head of Planning and Production Engineering at Volkswagen AG since 2019.
“Jan is the ideal leader to turn the ambitious vision of Scout Motors into a reality,” says Scout CEO Scott Keogh. “His vast expertise and visionary approach to production management will be invaluable as we establish world-class manufacturing operations.”
Scout Motors will build pickup trucks and “rugged” SUVs based on a new electric platform at the plant near Columbia in South Carolina. Details of this off-road-focused EV platform are not yet known. This concerns both the components of the e-drive train (such as the arrangement of the motors or the design and voltage level of the battery) and the concept of the platform itself. This will be a Scout-exclusive production – in the meantime, there had also been speculation that electric cars from Audi could also come off the production line at the new plant.
Volkswagen acquired the rights to the Scout brand name, which goes back to a model of the former US manufacturer International Harvester, with the takeover of Navistar in 2020. International Harvester was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, cars and trucks that was dissolved in 1985. The truck division then continued as Navistar. The Scout was a two-door off-road vehicle built between 1961 and 1980. Scout emphasises that it is an “independent US company with the support of the Volkswagen Group” – which is why the announcement of Jan Spies’ appointment is made as if it were an external transfer.
In addition to Spies, Scout has already hired several other managers. The announcement specifically mentions Punam Patel as South Carolina Liaison, Corey Epps as HR Director and Wendy Bashnan as Director of Security & Fire Protection. Only Corey Epps comes from the automotive industry (23 years at BMW’s Spartanburg/Greer plant in South Carolina). The company says it is “actively seeking more than 20 open positions in manufacturing, supply chain, IT and administration based in South Carolina”. Scout CEO Keogh, the former North American boss of Audi and VW, calls the start of hiring an “exciting milestone as we work towards building a dynamic team that will help us shape the future of all-electric transportation”.
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