Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh confirms Magna Steyr as engineering accomplice, and Reuters experiences Volkswagen is reducing 20 % of its administrative workers prices.
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Scout Motors Working With Magna Steyr To Develop New Body-On-Frame Platform
At the tip of November, Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung wrote about Magna Steyr’s potential involvement within the growth of a brand new platform for Scout Motors. The newly based EV model has now confirmed the Graz-based firm helps with the engineering of an structure that may underpin an SUV and a pickup truck. Scout Motors CEO instructed Automotive News the 2 corporations are engaged on a “100 percent capable, American, robust, full platform.”
Scott Keogh refuted rumors about modifying the MEB structure for off-road duties, saying the 2 fashions will make the most of a “completely unique platform – ground up being engineered and developed.” The {hardware} won’t be unique to Scout Motors because the CEO did not exclude the potential for a VW-badged mannequin utilizing the identical underpinnings.
The design of the SUV is almost completed, with Keogh telling Automotive News it is “85, 90, 95 percent of the way there.” He went on to say the outside design and the proportions of the mannequin have been locked in. The massive SUV is being developed primarily with the United States in thoughts and would be the first to go on sale. The fullsize truck, additionally US-focused, will observe 6-7 months later, in accordance with the CEO.
Production is earmarked for late 2026 at a new $2-billion assembly plant in Blythewood, South Carolina. Magna Steyr is not going to be concerned within the meeting of the 2 EVs. We will not have to attend till then to see the SUV as a result of the official premiere will occur within the third quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, check mules will hit the road within the following months.
Volkswagen To Reduce Staff Administrative Costs By 20 Percent
Reuters received maintain of a VW inside memo notifying workers of an upcoming cost-cutting determination. As a part of a wider array of measures meant to cut back expenditures by €10 billion ($10.7B) by 2026, the German automaker desires to cut back administrative workers prices by a fifth. VW model CEO Thomas Schaefer is quoted saying:
“What is crystal clear is that we will need to operate with fewer people in many areas at Volkswagen in the future. This doesn’t mean more work for fewer people, but rather shedding old habits and saying no to duplicating efforts and inefficiencies.”
In the identical memo, VW knowledgeable its workers it will not construct a brand new analysis and growth facility in Wolfsburg anymore, due to this fact saving €800 million ($862M). Other targets embrace shortening manufacturing occasions and reducing a product’s life cycle from 50 months to solely 36. As beforehand reported, Schaefer has admitted that VW is “no longer competitive” and that partial and early retirements are deliberate to additional drive down prices.