Scout Motors has started welding, painting and assembling validation vehicles at its manufacturing plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, marking a key milestone toward producing its new electric SUV and pickup truck.
The startup automaker announced Thursday that construction on the more than $2 billion facility is in its final phase, with most manufacturing equipment installed and operating 2 ½ years after groundbreaking.
The early builds allow engineers and factory workers to test vehicle design, parts maturity and assembly processes for the upcoming Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra truck ahead of full-scale production.
“What we are building in Blythewood is no longer a promise on paper,” Scout Motors President and CEO Scott Keogh said in a statement. “Our equipment is coming to life, and our teams are building our first validation vehicles right here in the factory.”
Inside the plant’s body shop, more than 750 robots join roughly 160 individual parts using about 5,000 weld points per vehicle. The facility uses artificial intelligence-supported weld monitoring and laser measurement systems to verify quality before bodies move through an electrified paint shop and into final assembly, where workers install wiring, seats, steering wheels and tires.
At full capacity, the body shop is designed to process about 40 vehicles per hour, company officials said.
Located less than 20 miles north of Columbia, the plant is expected to create more than 4,000 jobs. Scout Motors is ramping up hiring and onsite training to build its workforce. In 2025, the company also announced an additional $300 million investment for an onsite supplier park projected to generate roughly 1,000 supplier jobs and $368 million in outside investment.
Validation builds will continue into 2027 as the company transitions to pre-production vehicles and scales up assembly speeds. Customer deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2028.
International Harvester originally produced the rugged Scout utility vehicle from 1961 to 1980 before Scout Motors was formed to revive the brand.
