After a multistate search, an emerging automotive manufacturer has landed on Charlotte for its corporate home. 

A 1968 Scout truck

Scout Motors announced Wednesday it has selected Charlotte for its new headquarters.

Scout will invest $206M in the 300K SF facility, which will serve as a center for the company’s executive leadership, research and development, finance, IT, sales and marketing teams. 

The headquarters will reportedly bring approximately 1,200 jobs to the region, with initial staffing and office development beginning in 2026. Scout will also relocate more than 350 employees based in Northern Virginia to temporary offices in Charlotte as the new HQ is being built, according to the city of Charlotte.

The new center of operations will be at the Commonwealth development in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood of Mecklenburg County. Nuveen Real Estate and Crosland Southeast developed the 12-acre property, Charlotte Business Journal reports. 

Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh said in a statement that the car manufacturer selected Charlotte due to its talent pool and connection to leading universities. 

The state of North Carolina will provide Scout Motors a job development investment grant worth up to $46.5M if the company reaches certain hiring and investment goals, The Charlotte Observer reports.

Scout Motors, an American subsidiary of Volkswagen, is a revitalization of the Scout light-truck brand that was originally produced by International Harvester in 1961. The Scout was known as the first utility offroad truck that could double as a family vehicle. In 2022, Scout Motors formed to bring all-electric Scout trucks and SUVs to market.

The site for the new headquarters sits approximately one hour north of Scout Motors’ manufacturing center, which is under construction off Interstate 77 in the Columbia suburb of Blythewood, South Carolina. That facility is scheduled to open in 2027 for the production of Scout Traveler SUVs and Scout Terra trucks. 

The $2B Blythewood facility will cover between 1,100 and 1,600 acres, with the main plant slated to be 1.3M SF. 

In 2023, the state of South Carolina agreed to chip in $1.3B to help with the cost of the factory’s construction and infrastructure upgrades. Scout must meet hiring goals and invest a minimum of $400M in the facility during an eight-year period, according to a report by The Nerve, the reporting arm of The South Carolina Policy Council.