Gov. Josh Stein and Charlotte officials said on Tuesday that Scout Motors — a startup electric vehicle maker backed by Volkswagen — will open its U.S. headquarters in east Charlotte.
Scout Motors is also building a 4,000-job manufacturing plant in Blythewood, S.C., north of Columbia. The Charlotte headquarters will be located on Commonwealth Avenue, at the Commonwealth project, a new mixed-use development by Crosland Southeast that's under construction. The Scout Motors headquarters is expected to bring more than 1,000 high-paying jobs.
It's one of the biggest economic development projects headed to Charlotte in recent years, and represents a new industry, auto manufacturing, that Charlotte has not traditionally been a hub for. Still, North Carolina has been expanding its footprint in the automaking business — also on Wednesday, Stein celebrated the grand opening of Toyota's $14 billion EV battery plant in Randolph County.
Scout Motors is a reboot of an automotive brand from the 1960s. The company plans to make an SUV, the Terra, and a pickup truck, the Traveler. Production is expected to start in 2027 and the company has said it will price both models starting below $60,000.
“Charlotte is the ideal home for Scout Motors – a place as dynamic as our people and brand, where heritage and pride meet progress and innovation,” said Scott Keogh, CEO of Scout Motors. “With a thriving talent pool, world-class universities, and a deserved reputation as a launchpad for bold ideas, Charlotte offers the momentum we need to scale quickly and sustainably. We’ll build a headquarters that reflects our culture, empowers our teams, and connects us to a region that’s fast becoming a national hub for mobility and manufacturing.”
The jobs will have an average salary of about $173,000. The company will invest a total of $207 million into the site, with staffing starting in 2026 and building up over the next several years.
To help lure Scout Motors, the state approved incentives worth up to $46.5 million.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
