Report: Volkswagen Explores Partnership with Foxconn to Build EV

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A German automobile news outlet reported Tuesday that Volkswagen is considering a partnership with Foxconn to build VW’s new Scout EV brand in the United States.

Automobilwoche, citing sources inside Volkswagen, reported that the automaker is in discussions with Foxconn to jointly build the EV.

In May, Volkswagen announced that it would create a new, independent EV company called Scout that would produce an all-electric pickup and an off-road SUV for the North American market.

The publication further reported that Volkswagen is also in discussions with Magna Steyr, a subsidiary of Magna International, as a potential partner to produce the vehicle in the U.S. Also, Volkswagen hasn’t ruled out building a plant of its own to produce the EV, although this option is considered the least likely scenario, according to the report.

According to Volkswagen, the Scout all-electric pickup is expected to launch in 2026.  The automaker has said it would like the Scout brand to ultimately sell 250,000 pickups and SUVs.

Foxconn purchased Lordstown Motors Corp.’s 6.2 million-square-foot manufacturing plant in Lordstown for $230 million seven months ago. Since then, the Taiwanese tech company – best known for producing iPhones – announced it would build Lordstown Motors’ all-electric Endurance pickup and a new driverless option EV tractor, Monarch Tractor’s Mark V, at the plant. More recently, Foxconn announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding to build a prototype for IndiEV, a California-based EV startup, at Lordstown.

The Lordstown plant is Foxconn’s sole EV manufacturing facility in the United States, leaving open the possibility of the Scout being built there should a VW deal with Foxconn emerge.

On Tuesday, Lordstown Motors announced it had begun its first commercial deliveries of the Endurance.  Production of the Mark V is expected to start during the first quarter of 2023.

Also, Foxconn is also continuing to work with Fisker Inc., a California-based EV startup that plans to launch the Fisker Pear in 2024.  Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker has said plans are moving forward to build the small EV at Foxconn’s plant in Lordstown, per a framework agreement the parties signed last year.

Fisker this month launched its Ocean, a new electric-powered EV SUV that is built at Magna Steyr’s plant in Granz, Austria. 

Magna has said it wants to build a new plant somewhere in the U.S., according to Automobilwoche.

Pictured at top: The 2026 Scout EV Off-Roader.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.