EV maker Scout Motors wants to sell directly to buyers but can't do it in its home state Volkswagen-backed Scout Motors is making a massive bet in the electric SUV market with a carefully cultivated experience that will allow some customers to buy the company's vehicle in minutes on an app and then use it to handle everything after from repairs to updates and upgrades.
Henry McMaster touts the Scout plant in Blythewood as one of his biggest economic development scores The Republican has been to both the February 2024 groundbreaking of the massive facility and this month's ceremony to mark work starting on a new $150 million interstate interchange the state is paying for to help get workers, parts and new SUVs in and out.
Scout also is armed with a 2000 Attorney General's Office opinion on the bill which would weeks later would become law and serve as the most recent major overhaul to South Carolina's laws on new car buying.
But without some help from lawmakers, that will be impossible in South Carolina, where the company is pouring billions into its new auto plant and a Scout Motors experience like BMW's test track in Greer.
Scout officials say using a dealership-only business model would make the vehicles aimed at the under-$60,000 market too expensive and complicate what the company wants to be a seamless experience, from start to finish.
