Scout Motors to Bring $2B EV Plant to South Carolina

Rendering of Scout manufacturing plant in South Carolina. Image courtesy of Scout Motors Inc.

Scout Motors Inc., the company which introduced the SUV in 1960, plans to build its first manufacturing plant near Columbia, S.C. The $2 billion facility will produce electric cars and trucks and has the potential to create more than 4,000 permanent jobs.

Groundbreaking is slated for mid-2023, with production scheduled to begin by the end of 2026.

Backed by Volkswagen Group, Scout Motors is currently evaluating the potential for outside investment.

Vice Chairman Greg Lubar and Executive Managing Director Matt Jackson with JLL Capital Markets represented Scout in the site selection.

The development site encompasses 1,600 acres and the plant will occupy 1,100 acres. The project will be bordered by Blythewood Road and Interstate 77, approximately 20 miles north of Columbia. The manufacturing plant will be connected to major roads, including interstate 20 and 26 and highways 21 and 321, which will facilitate the access to the ports of Savannah and Charleston.

A hot spot for industrial development

Scout Motors’s site selection strengthens South Carolina’s goal of becoming a major center of electric vehicle innovation. Through an executive order issued in October 2022, South Carolina Gov. McMaster prioritized building EV infrastructure, preparing the state workforce for advanced manufacturing jobs and organizing EV planning under a centralized state working group. South Carolina’s major hubs for industrial development continue to expand, particularly in markets such as Charleston and Greenville-Spartanburg.

JLL’s 2022 fourth quarter report on South Carolina’s port shows that Charleston had 8.2 million square feet of industrial space under development to be delivered in 2023, of which 47 percent was already leased.

Last year, several industrial projects in the region exceeded 1 million square feet. At the beginning of 2022, PCCP and Panattoni Development Co. teamed up for the construction of Tyger Ridge Logistics Center, a 1.5 million-square-foot logistics park in Duncan, S.C., which is slated for completion in the second quarter of 2023. Later in spring, Dalfen Industrial announced plans for the development of Palmetto Logistics Center in Charleston. The 1.3 million-square-foot will come online in the third quarter of 2023.

Major projects launched last summer include a 2 million-square-foot industrial complex in Anderson, S.C., developed by Hunt Midwest, as well as a 1.6 million-square-foot development in Greenville, S.C. A partnership between SunCap Property Group and Goldman Sachs Asset Management broke ground on the project’s first phase in July.