Scout picked S.C. because of speed, says CEO Scott Keogh

Scout Motors chose a greenfield site just north of Columbia, S.C., for a new $2 billion factory over a number of other sites across the U.S. in part because it — and an accompanying $1.3 billion package of incentives — was "ready to go," according to Scout CEO Scott Keogh.

Gov. Henry McMaster signed the incentive package into law Monday. It includes a $400 million grant to Scout Motors "for hard assets as determined by the company," local media reported, citing the state's Department of Commerce. It also includes funding for $650 million in local infrastructure improvements, a $25 million training facility and a $200 million loan for soil stabilization.

Speaking to reporters in a video conference call Monday, Keogh said the Volkswagen Group-owned brand looked at 74 sites in the South, Midwest and West for the factory, which will produce Scout SUVs and pickups, beginning in 2026. But the process to land on the site in Blythewood "took just 60 days" instead of 12 to 18 months of negotiations and preparations. The factory will have a capacity of 200,000 vehicles.

In response to a question from Automotive News, Keogh said any announcement on how Scout would sell or repair its vehicles in the U.S. is forthcoming.

As for choosing South Carolina, "We looked at 74 sites in, I don't know, a dozen states, roughly. We looked at a lot of states to the north, and we looked at a lot of states to the south, and we looked at a few states to the west, so we have a good feel of what's going on in America with 74 sites," Keogh said. The state had the available infrastructure, a sufficient local population from which to draw the plant's estimated 4,000 workers and an existing supply base from other automakers that have been in the state for decades, Keogh said.

"This was the best play based on the 74 sites, full stop," Keogh said.

Keogh said Scout's first vehicle would be shown in spring 2024 but won't just be a retro-styled version of the 1980 International Scout II. "The concept is to take some of those core things but bring them into the 21st century. We wanted to make sure we kept the integrity and the romance of the Scout II. We think we have something cool."

Keogh also said the Scout vehicles may borrow some components from other VW Group vehicles but that they would be "on an all-new architecture and an all-new platform."

Peter Bosch, a member of VW Group's board of management for manufacturing, said the German automaker will take learnings from its experience setting up its massive assembly plant in Chattanooga in 2011, as well as its recent expansion to begin building the ID4 compact electric crossover last year. However, because Scout Motors was set up as an independent company under the group's structure, "Volkswagen Chattanooga, being part of Volkswagen of America, that wasn't even an option," Bosch said. "What we're benefiting from is the experience we gained from Chattanooga as a group."