Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh, needless to say, is giddy about the revived brand as it finalizes its new stake in its operations in North and South Carolina. In Blythewood, S.C., the company is finishing up its new assembly plant, only 76 miles from its new Charlotte headquarters in a historic 145,000-square-foot building at the Commonwealth development. There, the headquarters operation is expected to create 1,200 jobs. Currently Scout has about 200 employees at its headquarters in North Carolina.
At its 1,600-acre assembly plant in South Carolina, Scout prototypes have already been made. The body and paint shops are active, with 700 synthesized robots producing initial body structures.
The assembly plant in South Carolina is a $2 billion investment. It is expected to eventually house as many as 4,000 workers with an additional 1,000 supplier jobs. In October, at the company’s first Harvester Festival at Camp North End in Charlotte where prototypes were shown, Keogh said “The entire anchor of what we’re doing is bringing back an American brand for the American market, made by Americans, marketed by Americans, sold by Americans for Americans. So, we are firmly committed to industrializing America, and particularly here in the Carolinaa.”
International Harvester built the truck-like-SUV from 1961 to 1980. In fact, while playing baseball in Florida, I purchased a 1980 Scout. It was a remarkable machine that was more truck than SUV, as International Harvester is known for heavy-duty 18-wheelers. I felt as if my Scout could climb buildings. It was that tough of a truck. Without an argument from anyone, Scout invented the first SUV in the 1960s.
Germany-based Volkswagen acquired the rights to the Scout brand when it purchased Navistar in 2021. VW revived the Scout brand in 2022 and announced the South Carolina factory shortly after. The plant will have an electric focus and will make several SUV models.
Parent company VW is facing significant business challenges that center on declining sales in key markets such as China and Europe. In those two continents, Chinese-built electric models, once a sideshow, are now being snapped up in short order, creating a huge slump in sales for VW. Volkswagen plans to eliminate 50,000 jobs worldwide as part of its restructuring efforts and is slashing half of its vehicle lineup. However, the new Scout brand looks as if it will be a big winner for Volkswagen.
