'Call it Scoutland.' Scout Motors takes new vehicle on public tour in SC for the first time. BY CALEB BOZARD 23 hrs ago COLUMBIA — Scout Motors spent the weekend in Columbia showing off the company’s first vehicles slated to roll out of its under-construction Blythewood facility.
The weekend began with a Nov. 15 event attended by Gov. Henry McMaster and a stacked roster of members of both houses of the Legislature, as well as local officials.
On Nov. 16, the vehicles made a halftime appearance on the field at Williams-Brice Stadium ahead of the Gamecocks’s win over Missouri, ushered by McMaster and University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis.
The weekend PR push was the second time the company has publicly revealed its first two vehicles, following an event in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 24. The prototypes — an SUV and a truck model — pay homage to the brand’s original products in the 1960s and '70s.
Volkswagen-backed Scout Motors received record incentives and infrastructure improvements from the state to build its $2 billion, 1,100-acre manufacturing plant in Blythewood, about half an hour’s drive north of Columbia.
The project promises to employ 4,000 people and bring “transformative” spinoff development and economic benefits to the region, Scout CEO Scott Keogh said at the Nov. 15 event.
“I keep using this word transformative, and I think it is,” Keogh said. “I think it means real big, high-paying jobs ... There's a massive amount of opportunities, and it's sprinkling in now, but it's going to magnify.”
Keogh compared the vision for Scout’s impact on the Midlands to BMW’s investments in the Upstate.
The Blythewood plant was originally announced in March 2023. Construction at the site has gone vertical, with significant portions of the facilities' major production buildings foundations and structural steel complete.
Exterior construction on main production buildings is expected to be wrapped up “over the next few months,” Scout spokesperson Jamie Lovegrove said. That will be followed by the installation of heavy machinery and interiors, which will be finished by 2026.
Scout will begin bringing companies to supply the Blythewood factory with materials in the coming year, Keogh said. The majority will be located on site or in the area.
The plant will begin large-scale hiring in 2026, joining those already employed by the construction.
Production is expected to begin in 2027. At full capacity, the plant will be able to crank out 200,000 vehicles a year, according to Scout’s website.
The facility will also include a visitor center aimed at bringing tourists to the plant and the Columbia area, Keogh said.
“Call it Disneyland, call it Scoutville, call it Scoutland, but we want America to come here,” he said. “We want America to come drive these cars. We want to take them off road, take them everywhere. We want to deliver these cars out of here and show them the Scout magic at this place.
"So we want to put Scout on the map, Columbia, Blythewood as a place the world sees as a really cool company doing really cool things in a really cool state.”
Lawmakers and elected officials at the Nov. 15 event touted the project’s success as a testament to the state’s pro-business incentives and political collaboration, in between drinks and photos in and around the cars.
“If anybody can tell me a single thing that they haven’t thought about putting in this vehicle, I’ll give you $100,” McMaster said at the event. “This just proves good things happen, they happen here and they happen first."
A major headline out of the prototype unveiling was the optional extended range feature powered by a small internal combustion engine to supplement the EV’s battery.
The feature will differ from other hybrids on the market by remaining primarily battery powered, Keogh said.
The addition of the gas-powered engine came after conversations with many skeptics of the EV’s marketability, including McMaster, Keogh said.
By making the hybrids, the Blythewood facility will be equipped to switch to full-EV or gas-powered production as the market dictates, he said. Demand for EVs has been sluggish in South Carolina, despite higher interest in other parts of the country.
“We think it's a cool piece of technology because it introduces you to electrification,” Keogh said. “What it does is it expands the market.”
Keogh also dismissed concerns that the incoming Trump administration’s goal to revoke the Biden administration’s $7,500 federal tax credit for first time EV-buyers would affect Scout’s business.
“It's helpful, without a doubt, but we didn't put any of those incentives in our business model, because we always know you can't plan a strategic business case over how a government moves or doesn't move,” he said.
The Scout vehicles will retail at $50,000 to $60,000, Lovegrove said.
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