Scout Motors Wins Subsidies for $207 Million Headquarters

Scout Motors is planting its corporate flag in Charlotte, choosing the city’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood for its first-ever headquarters.

The $207 million headquarters will receive a $51 million subsidy from North Carolina economic investment funds approved this week, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. Local governments will contribute $20 million more.

That package helped win over the Volkswagen-owned startup, which is reviving the iconic Scout off-road brand as electric vehicles with a 2027 launch of its Terra pickup and Traveler SUV.

The company’s 150,000-square-foot HQ will anchor Commonwealth, at 1710 Commonwealth Drive, a 12-acre mixed-use project by Nuveen and Crosland Southeast. The development has a 150,000-square-foot “hospitality-driven” office building, 100,000 square feet of retail and 383 apartments. Scout will take temporary space while its space is built out in the recently finished office mid-rise. A second office building is planned, with Scout likely to take additional space.

CEO Scott Keogh told the outlet that Charlotte gives Scout the talent pipeline and quality-of-life pitch it needs as it rapidly scales. The company has committed to 1,200 jobs averaging $172,000 in total compensation as part of the incentives agreement.

Commonwealth’s mix of adaptive reuse, neighborhood-scale retail and modern workspace helped seal the deal, Keogh said. Plaza Midwood’s energy aligns with the brand’s outdoorsy ethos, he said.

Plaza Midwood, about 3 miles east of downtown Charlotte, was developed as a “streetcar suburb” in the early 1900s and has experienced explosive growth in recent years.

The headquarters move follows major progress on Scout’s $2 billion EV manufacturing plant rising across state lines in Blythewood, near Columbia, South Carolina.

That facility — incentivized with a $1.3 billion package in 2023 — will employ up to 4,000 workers and eventually produce 200,000 vehicles annually. Scout recently added a $300 million supplier hub there with no additional incentives. Having the HQ just 90 minutes up Interstate 77 tightens the loop between engineering, design and production.

Scout’s expansion plays into a growing Carolinas auto corridor. South Carolina has long been home to BMW and Mercedes-Benz plants, while North Carolina has finally broken through with Toyota’s multibillion-dollar EV battery campus in the Triad. VinFast’s $4 billion plant remains delayed, but Scout sees an upside long-term. Keogh said Scout is looking to create careers, not gigs.

— Eric Weilbacher