diff --git a/gclient_scm.py b/gclient_scm.py
index 717ffb7..0b8bd01 100644
--- a/gclient_scm.py
+++ b/gclient_scm.py
@@ -2167,6 +2167,8 @@ def update(self, options, args, file_list):
                                       ",".join(args))
 
         self._CreateClient()
+        if not os.path.isdir(self.checkout_path):
+		    gclient_utils.safe_makedirs(self.checkout_path)
 
         parsed_url = scm_p4.parse_workspace_url(self.url)
         revision = options.revision or parsed_url.changelist