Extra, Extra....Read All About It!

[THil08]

I was talking to my wife today with what she does in banking and commercial lending. Knowing that this will be the first opportunity for VWAG to break into US market with a serious truck and SUV. While it’s possible to see them selling, the money invested to date is significant and the technologies being advanced with Rivian make sense for an EV platform. And knowing Audis can be built alongside them also makes sense to hold onto them. vWAG would have done all kinds of future forecasting and would have considered and logically been prepared for the current U.S. administration to turn electric on its head. EV sales continue to grow-albeit slower year after year and with the intention of using the EREV, every other company is now discussing the same idea. SM can be way more nimble than a legacy manufacturer and plan their vehicle strategy around changes. I think SM has made everyone realize the current vehicle ideal is EREV. And it will serve as the BEV stepping stone. In my opinion pulling Scout now would hurt VWAG even more in the long run. Needless to say her point of view is VWAG as that big of a company would have anticipated this. And across every sector in every industry companies are trying to shed costs because without getting political-the tariffs have hurt Everybody and the effects haven’t even begun rippling yet so everyone is going to suffer for years to come. Scout could also use their factory to produce smaller EV/EREV vehicles for other companies and as soon as the north American battery companies are operational in 3 years prices will be even more competitive

My wish is to see TELO being made in Blythewood. Those Guys and Gals have worked so hard on that small little truck.

Well i hope you Wife is right about that because VWAG is a large company that it has done the research and placement for this legendary return. Because it would suck to see Stellantis Take over. Because thats what I've been seeing/watching and reading. But yet again VW obviously doesn't do much financial planning because this wouldn't happen every year around the same time. And it happened in the previous US administration. So that crap needs to stop.

 

[THil08]

Just hacked into TESLA engineering teams server and found this... it explains everything

 

[maynard]

That I don’t know about. Because it’s mainly built off of state grants, making it the states.

And rumors are already circulating that Scout is being sold. Because VW can’t hold onto it,

man I hope not!

 

[cyure]

man I hope not!

I’m not worried about it. I found one article from a publication I have never heard of before. To me it’s just click bait and at the end they say they have reached out to VW and SM for comment and haven’t heard back. So it sounds like they are just making up stories at this point.

Now I could see Audi building their off roader in SC after Scout gets going. That makes sense, but selling, I don’t see it.

 

[J Alynn]

(Sorry for long post)
Since my wife is a banking/financial nerd (in the absolute best way possible) she started digging into this info about VWAG today-because she finds it enjoyable-Math-Ewwww!
Anyway, VWAG has taken a hit financially this year particularly the 3rd quarter because of realized tariff costs along with…

-Porsche-One time write off of 2 billion $ for Impairment loss for capitalized project costs and expenses (changed product strategy)

-2.7 billion $ in goodwill write offs regarding Porsche
These things aren’t great but VWAG put the brakes on to prevent a larger loss. The write off was non-cash so not as major a hit as it could have been (intangible costs)

If you look at these as one time events (though tariffs will continue, unfortunately, VWAG was actually on target to have similar and possibly better profits this year.
And as I noted the other day, to sell Scout off as an American built American brand would be a bad strategy when the biggest impact to VWAG right now is import tariffs from both Europe and Mexico. Now you have a U.S. plant to help offset the tariff impacts with room to grow on site and possibly take on some traditional vehicles on a separate manufacturing line. And the potential for Audi to expedite a high end luxury vehicle out of Blythewood is another win for the company.
And I’m still going to argue for Scout to start a Metro vehicle update and promote it for BEV delivery service vehicles no different than Rivian and Amazon.
Additionally, she looked at Honda and Kia as well since they have a mix of import and stateside manufacturing and guess what? Their numbers are tracking just like VWAG with a drop in profit of approximately 35-40% which is directly related to the start of tariffs. And to balance that from a stateside only look, Ford also has taken a 40% hit overall. And to be fair-she looked at all of these for about 10-15 minutes each but used the same resources. (company statements, SEC notes, etc…).
Ford’s gas vehicles was 3,692 million in 2024 for first 9 months and for 2025, it was 2,297 million and for 2024 electric ford showed a loss of 3,708 million and for 2025 it was a loss of 3,588 million which shows they improved on EV sales a bit. The PRO division was down as well. So the only thing Ford improved on as a positive increase is the Ford Motor Credit which is due to higher interest rates. The 3rd quarter impact was in part due to a negative $700 million dollar loss due to tariffs. It certainly isn’t a deep dive but her early life was manufacturing auditing so she really gets this stuff and knows what to look at for deep dive as well as a quick synopsis like this.
So doesn’t mean VWAG couldn’t drop/sell SM but her quick assessment is they be foolish to do so.

 

[cyure]

(Sorry for long post)
Since my wife is a banking/financial nerd (in the absolute best way possible) she started digging into this info about VWAG today-because she finds it enjoyable-Math-Ewwww!
Anyway, VWAG has taken a hit financially this year particularly the 3rd quarter because of realized tariff costs along with…

-Porsche-One time write off of 2 billion $ for Impairment loss for capitalized project costs and expenses (changed product strategy)

-2.7 billion $ in goodwill write offs regarding Porsche
These things aren’t great but VWAG put the brakes on to prevent a larger loss. The write off was non-cash so not as major a hit as it could have been (intangible costs)

If you look at these as one time events (though tariffs will continue, unfortunately, VWAG was actually on target to have similar and possibly better profits this year.
And as I noted the other day, to sell Scout off as an American built American brand would be a bad strategy when the biggest impact to VWAG right now is import tariffs from both Europe and Mexico. Now you have a U.S. plant to help offset the tariff impacts with room to grow on site and possibly take on some traditional vehicles on a separate manufacturing line. And the potential for Audi to expedite a high end luxury vehicle out of Blythewood is another win for the company.
And I’m still going to argue for Scout to start a Metro vehicle update and promote it for BEV delivery service vehicles no different than Rivian and Amazon.
Additionally, she looked at Honda and Kia as well since they have a mix of import and stateside manufacturing and guess what? Their numbers are tracking just like VWAG with a drop in profit of approximately 35-40% which is directly related to the start of tariffs. And to balance that from a stateside only look, Ford also has taken a 40% hit overall. And to be fair-she looked at all of these for about 10-15 minutes each but used the same resources. (company statements, SEC notes, etc…).
Ford’s gas vehicles was 3,692 million in 2024 for first 9 months and for 2025, it was 2,297 million and for 2024 electric ford showed a loss of 3,708 million and for 2025 it was a loss of 3,588 million which shows they improved on EV sales a bit. The PRO division was down as well. So the only thing Ford improved on as a positive increase is the Ford Motor Credit which is due to higher interest rates. The 3rd quarter impact was in part due to a negative $700 million dollar loss due to tariffs. It certainly isn’t a deep dive but her early life was manufacturing auditing so she really gets this stuff and knows what to look at for deep dive as well as a quick synopsis like this.
So doesn’t mean VWAG couldn’t drop/sell SM but her quick assessment is they be foolish to do so.

Tell her I said thank you. That makes me feel better. And I appreciate her math skills!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

(Sorry for long post)
Since my wife is a banking/financial nerd (in the absolute best way possible) she started digging into this info about VWAG today-because she finds it enjoyable-Math-Ewwww!
Anyway, VWAG has taken a hit financially this year particularly the 3rd quarter because of realized tariff costs along with…

-Porsche-One time write off of 2 billion $ for Impairment loss for capitalized project costs and expenses (changed product strategy)

-2.7 billion $ in goodwill write offs regarding Porsche
These things aren’t great but VWAG put the brakes on to prevent a larger loss. The write off was non-cash so not as major a hit as it could have been (intangible costs)

If you look at these as one time events (though tariffs will continue, unfortunately, VWAG was actually on target to have similar and possibly better profits this year.
And as I noted the other day, to sell Scout off as an American built American brand would be a bad strategy when the biggest impact to VWAG right now is import tariffs from both Europe and Mexico. Now you have a U.S. plant to help offset the tariff impacts with room to grow on site and possibly take on some traditional vehicles on a separate manufacturing line. And the potential for Audi to expedite a high end luxury vehicle out of Blythewood is another win for the company.
And I’m still going to argue for Scout to start a Metro vehicle update and promote it for BEV delivery service vehicles no different than Rivian and Amazon.
Additionally, she looked at Honda and Kia as well since they have a mix of import and stateside manufacturing and guess what? Their numbers are tracking just like VWAG with a drop in profit of approximately 35-40% which is directly related to the start of tariffs. And to balance that from a stateside only look, Ford also has taken a 40% hit overall. And to be fair-she looked at all of these for about 10-15 minutes each but used the same resources. (company statements, SEC notes, etc…).
Ford’s gas vehicles was 3,692 million in 2024 for first 9 months and for 2025, it was 2,297 million and for 2024 electric ford showed a loss of 3,708 million and for 2025 it was a loss of 3,588 million which shows they improved on EV sales a bit. The PRO division was down as well. So the only thing Ford improved on as a positive increase is the Ford Motor Credit which is due to higher interest rates. The 3rd quarter impact was in part due to a negative $700 million dollar loss due to tariffs. It certainly isn’t a deep dive but her early life was manufacturing auditing so she really gets this stuff and knows what to look at for deep dive as well as a quick synopsis like this.
So doesn’t mean VWAG couldn’t drop/sell SM but her quick assessment is they be foolish to do so.

This is great!

Also, of note is the VWAG is the top revenue auto maker in the world. Toyota is a close second. They trade the top spot.

Nobody else is close (like the third place in revenue is $100B lower).

VWAG has $31B in free liquidity, after the nonsense from the tariffs.

There is nobody in the US who has the liquid assets to buy Scout for what it's worth who doesn't already have a full-sized pickup and large SUV available for sale.

 

[THil08]

(Sorry for long post)
Since my wife is a banking/financial nerd (in the absolute best way possible) she started digging into this info about VWAG today-because she finds it enjoyable-Math-Ewwww!
Anyway, VWAG has taken a hit financially this year particularly the 3rd quarter because of realized tariff costs along with…

-Porsche-One time write off of 2 billion $ for Impairment loss for capitalized project costs and expenses (changed product strategy)

-2.7 billion $ in goodwill write offs regarding Porsche
These things aren’t great but VWAG put the brakes on to prevent a larger loss. The write off was non-cash so not as major a hit as it could have been (intangible costs)

If you look at these as one time events (though tariffs will continue, unfortunately, VWAG was actually on target to have similar and possibly better profits this year.
And as I noted the other day, to sell Scout off as an American built American brand would be a bad strategy when the biggest impact to VWAG right now is import tariffs from both Europe and Mexico. Now you have a U.S. plant to help offset the tariff impacts with room to grow on site and possibly take on some traditional vehicles on a separate manufacturing line. And the potential for Audi to expedite a high end luxury vehicle out of Blythewood is another win for the company.
And I’m still going to argue for Scout to start a Metro vehicle update and promote it for BEV delivery service vehicles no different than Rivian and Amazon.
Additionally, she looked at Honda and Kia as well since they have a mix of import and stateside manufacturing and guess what? Their numbers are tracking just like VWAG with a drop in profit of approximately 35-40% which is directly related to the start of tariffs. And to balance that from a stateside only look, Ford also has taken a 40% hit overall. And to be fair-she looked at all of these for about 10-15 minutes each but used the same resources. (company statements, SEC notes, etc…).
Ford’s gas vehicles was 3,692 million in 2024 for first 9 months and for 2025, it was 2,297 million and for 2024 electric ford showed a loss of 3,708 million and for 2025 it was a loss of 3,588 million which shows they improved on EV sales a bit. The PRO division was down as well. So the only thing Ford improved on as a positive increase is the Ford Motor Credit which is due to higher interest rates. The 3rd quarter impact was in part due to a negative $700 million dollar loss due to tariffs. It certainly isn’t a deep dive but her early life was manufacturing auditing so she really gets this stuff and knows what to look at for deep dive as well as a quick synopsis like this.
So doesn’t mean VWAG couldn’t drop/sell SM but her quick assessment is they be foolish to do so.

Makes me feel better

 

[maynard]

(Sorry for long post)
Since my wife is a banking/financial nerd (in the absolute best way possible) she started digging into this info about VWAG today-because she finds it enjoyable-Math-Ewwww!
Anyway, VWAG has taken a hit financially this year particularly the 3rd quarter because of realized tariff costs along with…

-Porsche-One time write off of 2 billion $ for Impairment loss for capitalized project costs and expenses (changed product strategy)

-2.7 billion $ in goodwill write offs regarding Porsche
These things aren’t great but VWAG put the brakes on to prevent a larger loss. The write off was non-cash so not as major a hit as it could have been (intangible costs)

If you look at these as one time events (though tariffs will continue, unfortunately, VWAG was actually on target to have similar and possibly better profits this year.
And as I noted the other day, to sell Scout off as an American built American brand would be a bad strategy when the biggest impact to VWAG right now is import tariffs from both Europe and Mexico. Now you have a U.S. plant to help offset the tariff impacts with room to grow on site and possibly take on some traditional vehicles on a separate manufacturing line. And the potential for Audi to expedite a high end luxury vehicle out of Blythewood is another win for the company.
And I’m still going to argue for Scout to start a Metro vehicle update and promote it for BEV delivery service vehicles no different than Rivian and Amazon.
Additionally, she looked at Honda and Kia as well since they have a mix of import and stateside manufacturing and guess what? Their numbers are tracking just like VWAG with a drop in profit of approximately 35-40% which is directly related to the start of tariffs. And to balance that from a stateside only look, Ford also has taken a 40% hit overall. And to be fair-she looked at all of these for about 10-15 minutes each but used the same resources. (company statements, SEC notes, etc…).
Ford’s gas vehicles was 3,692 million in 2024 for first 9 months and for 2025, it was 2,297 million and for 2024 electric ford showed a loss of 3,708 million and for 2025 it was a loss of 3,588 million which shows they improved on EV sales a bit. The PRO division was down as well. So the only thing Ford improved on as a positive increase is the Ford Motor Credit which is due to higher interest rates. The 3rd quarter impact was in part due to a negative $700 million dollar loss due to tariffs. It certainly isn’t a deep dive but her early life was manufacturing auditing so she really gets this stuff and knows what to look at for deep dive as well as a quick synopsis like this.
So doesn’t mean VWAG couldn’t drop/sell SM but her quick assessment is they be foolish to do so.

Wow - thanks for digging in!

 

[J Alynn]

This is great!

Also, of note is the VWAG is the top revenue auto maker in the world. Toyota is a close second. They trade the top spot.

Nobody else is close (like the third place in revenue is $100B lower).

VWAG has $31B in free liquidity, after the nonsense from the tariffs.

There is nobody in the US who has the liquid assets to buy Scout for what it's worth who doesn't already have a full-sized pickup and large SUV available for sale.

Glad you mentioned that. We talked about that as well but my wife said I shouldn’t post because it might launch arguing. I really wanted to so thanks for sharing it from your end

 

[J Alynn]

Wow - thanks for digging in!

Don’t thank me. Only thing I did was type the crap . But that said-it doesn’t mean they couldn’t unload it but as @SpaceEVDriver said, nobody else has the cash or reason to buy it for the value. And heaven forbid Tesla would try they would destroy it.

 

[Jamie@ScoutMotors]

@Jamie@ScoutMotors,

I know that we try to not talk about VWs financials on here. But as I’m sure you have seen in the news, and I’m sure Scott has it sitting on his desk most likely… VW is in a bad financial situation, and might have to sell Scout off because it’s a non profit company at the moment, due to not cars on sale.

Is there any updates? And what would be likely to happen? Who would be most likely to buy Scout Motors, or would it be time for Scout to go public and would Harvester still be sourced from VW or would an American Companies engine be used?

Just starting to get worried that we may never see Scouts on the road.

We just announced a new HQ in Charlotte. We also just announced $300 million additional investment in a supplier park in addition to the $2 billion factory investment that’s ongoing. I can’t speak to VW Group overall financials but take automotive websites reporting on financial reports with a grain of salt.

 

[Jamie@ScoutMotors]

That I don’t know about. Because it’s mainly built off of state grants, making it the states.

And rumors are already circulating that Scout is being sold. Because VW can’t hold onto it,

The Scout factory itself isn’t “mainly built off of state grants”. The State and County had to spend money to prepare the land and infrastructure (moving major electrical towers, building a rail connection including a rail bridge over a highway, building a new highway interchange, and moving 20+ million cubic yards of dirt around the property to name a few). That is where the overwhelming majority of state funds go in a project like this. The primary $2 billion of initial and ongoing funding of the factory is on us.

The media landscape is unfortunately littered with sensational headlines today.

 

[THil08]

The Scout factory itself isn’t “mainly built off of state grants”. The State and County had to spend money to prepare the land and infrastructure (moving major electrical towers, building a rail connection including a rail bridge over a highway, building a new highway interchange, and moving 20+ million cubic yards of dirt around the property to name a few). That is where the overwhelming majority of state funds go in a project like this. The primary $2 billion of initial and ongoing funding of the factory is on us.

The media landscape is unfortunately littered with sensational headlines today.

We just announced a new HQ in Charlotte. We also just announced $300 million additional investment in a supplier park in addition to the $2 billion factory investment that’s ongoing. I can’t speak to VW Group overall financials but take automotive websites reporting on financial reports with a grain of salt.

This makes me feel a bit confident. In the operation. Glad Scout owns the factory. These dang auto news companies. I normally trust them, because with all the other brand they are normally pretty spot on. But i guess they can't get real news on Scout. Probably should have guessed it was fake, considering the last piece of news was fake, when they reported the Scouts in LA were production models.

Thanks for the clear up Jameson.

Also this is the site I found that spoke about this: https://pickuptrucktalk.com/#google_vignette

Which they are a pretty reputable site for truck news. Thats why i brought it up.

 

[6-ScoutFamily]

We just announced a new HQ in Charlotte. We also just announced $300 million additional investment in a supplier park in addition to the $2 billion factory investment that’s ongoing. I can’t speak to VW Group overall financials but take automotive websites reporting on financial reports with a grain of salt.

More like the whole salt shaker. In the long term, SM may, or may not succeed. I believe they will. As exciting as a new Scout is, my hope is not in the material things of this world. Thank you @Jamie@ScoutMotors.

 

[Gurble]

Or - just make EV's compete on a level playing field and not piss off 50% of Americans again.

It is not that hard. Build a better product at a competitive price. But sure, tell 1/2 the consumer base they are stupid really will help expand EV sales. Try to force them, they will only fight back.

I really don't want to start a big back and forth but gasoline is heavily subsidized in the US. It just doesn't come in the form of a highly visible tax break.

Whether or not the playing field was level with the EV rebate, removing it certainly didn't make it so.

 

[THil08]

I really don't want to start a big back and forth but gasoline is heavily subsidized in the US. It just doesn't come in the form of a highly visible tax break.

Whether or not the playing field was level with the EV rebate, removing it certainly didn't make it so.

Im not trying to make a back and forth. But i can tell you that EV prices have dropped since the Rebate was removed. These companies took advantage of it and saw that they could add an extra 7,500 to the MSRP because it would never show up with the final sale.

Found this out after it was removed by my friends at my Local BMW dealer that showed me what the higher ups(executives) did. And its all because they knew that they could get more money while not making it show

 

[maynard]

Im not trying to make a back and forth. But i can tell you that EV prices have dropped since the Rebate was removed. These companies took advantage of it and saw that they could add an extra 7,500 to the MSRP because it would never show up with the final sale.

Found this out after it was removed by my friends at my Local BMW dealer that showed me what the higher ups(executives) did. And its all because they knew that they could get more money while not making it show

All the more reason DTC is what we need!!!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

New York state is (weakly) looking out of automobile customers and working to ban some nonsense subscriptions.

"No manufacturer, dealer, or agent of a manufacturer or dealer shall offer to a consumer a subscription service for any motor vehicle feature that: (1) utilizes components and hardware already installed on the motor vehicle at the time of purchase or lease by the consumer; and
(2) would function after activation without ongoing cost to or support by the dealer, manufacturer, or any third-party service provider."

Lawmakers Are Putting Their Foot Down About Subscription Car Features - SlashGear

New York Senate Bill S5708, which has passed the Senate and Assembly, is looking to prevent carmakers from charging subscription fees for hardware features.

www.slashgear.com

 

[J Alynn]

New York state is (weakly) looking out of automobile customers and working to ban some nonsense subscriptions.

"No manufacturer, dealer, or agent of a manufacturer or dealer shall offer to a consumer a subscription service for any motor vehicle feature that: (1) utilizes components and hardware already installed on the motor vehicle at the time of purchase or lease by the consumer; and
(2) would function after activation without ongoing cost to or support by the dealer, manufacturer, or any third-party service provider."

Lawmakers Are Putting Their Foot Down About Subscription Car Features - SlashGear

New York Senate Bill S5708, which has passed the Senate and Assembly, is looking to prevent carmakers from charging subscription fees for hardware features.

www.slashgear.com

It’s great they are doing that but I think if a manufacturer wants to piss off their potential customers that should be their right. I don’t think they should be able to blackmail a buyer after the sale by treating to turn things on and off if they were available at time of purchase. If it’s there-it’s there and if not, it isn’t. But if BMW wants to piss people off-go nuts, just no Bait and switch