South Carolina is offering $1.3 billion to create a new electric vehicle (EV) plant to bring back a classic vehicle for modern times.
Key Details
- Scout Motors Inc. and South Carolina officials are announcing plans to bring a new EV plant to the state that will build Scout vehicles for the first time since 1980, but this time the vehicles are electric.
- South Carolina is offering around $1.3 billion to help the Volkswagen-backed company create the new plant.
- The plant hopes to hire around 4,000 new manufacturing workers and begin production in 2026. When the plant is up and running, it is expected to make 200,000 EVs a year.
Why it’s news
EVs are slowing going mainstream—having first started out for environmental enthusiasts, then trading up to luxury, high-performance vehicles. Now, to distinguish themselves from the many EVs to hit the market, EV makers are looking to tug on buyers’ nostalgia strings. Ford did it with the Mustang and not VW with Scout.
South Carolina plans to bring back the nostalgic Scout SUV brand with a twist—the vehicles will be electric.
Scout Motors is an independent company headquartered in Virginia and backed by Volkswagen. The company is named after the Scout vehicles produced by International Harvester between 1960 and 1980.
The shape of the Scout vehicles revolutionized how SUVs are made today, and the vehicles have a large collector fan base worldwide.
The company is recreating the old vehicle but making it electric. Scout hopes that the vehicles will be a hit between the nostalgia of the old brand and the high demand for EVs, the vehicles will be a hit.
Production is set to begin in 2026, and since the EVs will be manufactured in South Carolina, they will be eligible for tax incentives, though it hasn’t been stated how much will be given.
The $1.3 billion EV offer will help South Carolina in the EV fight as its neighboring states have also been bullish in investing in electric vehicles. Georgia offered $1.8 billion in incentives for its first U.S. electric vehicle plant near Savannah to Hyundai Motor Group, while North Carolina offered more than $1 billion to Vietnamese automaker VinFast.
“Scout Motors will provide thousands of South Carolinians with previously unimagined opportunities and prosperity for generations to come,” says South Carolina governor Henry. “The Palmetto State, with its rich history, superior people, and sterling automotive manufacturing reputation, is the perfect place to restart this iconic American brand.”