Audi is reportedly planning a rugged off-road SUV to compete with the popular Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class, which will be built in and based on the US Explore Platform.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Automotive News Europe Sister publication Automobile Week reports that Audi has ruled out building its own US factory and will instead use Scout’s ladder frame platform for the all-new model.
Audi and Scout are both part of the Volkswagen Group and Audi boss Gernot Döllner has previously suggested that a large off-road SUV would join the German premium car brand’s growing model range, to which the all-new model will join Q9 Flagship SUV that will be built from 2026 along with the next generation of the Q7 at the VW Group plant in Bratislava, Slovakia.
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“We haven’t given up on this dream,” said Döllner Automobile Week when asked about the potential of a large Audi off-road SUV tailored specifically to the American market that could compete with cars like the Defender and G-Wagen.
Both large luxury off-roaders have been huge successes worldwide and in Australia, where the Defender is by far JLR’s most popular model despite its price starting at around $100,000.
With 3379 sales to October this year – up 2.6 per cent year-on-year – the Defender is Australia’s best-selling large luxury SUV (over $80,000).
And although the G-Class is only available in four variants priced above $200,000 – the G63 and G63 Offroad Pro AMG, the diesel G450d and the G580 EV – sales of the G-Class are up almost 36 percent to 466 so far this year.
The Scout Terra pickup and Traveler SUV were first introduced in October 2024 and are expected to go into production in late 2027 at a new plant the VW Group is building in South Carolina.
Scout CEO Scott Keogh told Australian journalists at the Munich Motor Show in September that both retro-styled off-road models would eventually be sold in that market after their release in the US and Canada in 2027.
“We want to conquer America and Canada. Those will be our first markets and after that we will look for other markets and certainly Australia is on the list,” he said.
“Of course we’re not naive. We see the market in Australia, we see you like these types of pickup trucks – let’s say (the) ‘go outdoors, you can do it’ vehicles, body on frame, tough – and we’re definitely aware of the opportunity.”
As with Scout, producing vehicles in the US for American consumers – and potential right-hand drive export markets such as Australia – will allow Audi to avoid large manufacturing investments and US import tariffs.
Audi does not currently build vehicles in the United States – a market for which the company relies on imports from Mexico and Europe – but is considering establishing a U.S. production facility in locations such as Texas or at VW’s existing factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Mr Keogh recently confirmed the potential for production expansion at the upcoming Scout Motors Production Centre Automotive News: “There is definitely the possibility that more exciting products from the group will definitely be built there.”
While the Scout factory will initially have an annual production capacity of more than 200,000 vehicles, Audi wants to increase its market performance in the United States, where sales fell 8.0 percent to fewer than 130,000 vehicles in the first nine months of this year.
Higher import tariffs under the Trump administration have been blamed at least in part for Audi’s decline in U.S. sales, leading the company to lower its 2025 profit forecast, while Audi Chief Financial Officer Jürgen Rittersberger said U.S. tariffs alone will cost the company an estimated 1.3 billion euros for the full year.
Last year, VW Group announced it would revive the Scout brand and offer an electrified off-road pickup and SUV inspired by models manufactured by International Harvester between 1961 and 1980.
Volkswagen gained ownership of the Scout name in 2021 when its Traton truck division purchased Navistar, the parent company of International Harvester, the company that built the original two-door Scout light trucks and SUVs.
The Scout models will be based on a ladder frame and will be equipped with a solid rear axle, mechanical front and rear differential locks and a front anti-roll bar that can be removed for better wheel steering. They offer a water depth of more than 900 mm.
So far, Scout has introduced the battery-electric Terra crew cab pickup and the Traveler SUV – both feature an 800-volt electrical architecture and two electric motors and offer a range of up to 563 km and a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of less than four seconds.
Extended range electric vehicle (EREV) variants with petrol-powered range extender engines are also planned, offering an additional range of 240 km. Audi’s proposed off-road SUV based on the Scout Traveler is expected to be offered with the latter EREV powertrain.
MORE: Volkswagen’s off-road brand Scout is planning to launch in Australia
