VW-owned Scout Motors moving jobs from Novi to North Carolina
(From Automotive News)
Volkswagen subsidiary Scout Motors Inc. is moving jobs from its Novi innovation center to a new headquarters in North Carolina, raising concern about the startup automaker’s long-term presence in Michigan.
The company confirmed that some jobs have shifted down South and others will follow gradually, but declined to provide details. A company spokesperson said Scout, which was awarded a
$10 million performance-based grant from Michigan in 2023, plans to maintain a presence in the state.
“While we are establishing and growing our workforce in the Carolinas, we do plan to keep a presence in Michigan given the state’s deep automotive roots, continued investment in innovation, and ability to attract and train a talented workforce of automotive designers and engineers,” Lindsay Bago, head of communications, said in an email.
“Some roles are planned to relocate from our Innovation Center in Michigan to our Corporate Headquarters in North Carolina over time; however, the majority of our engineering and design work remains in the Metro Detroit area.”
Scout has more than 300 employees at its Novi innovation center, where it announced in December 2023 plans to invest $11 million and create 200 jobs on top of 44 existing employees. Michigan pledged $10 million toward that end and has disbursed nearly $6 million of it so far, Michigan Economic Development Corp. spokeswoman Danielle Emerson said.
Scout has created 200 jobs and invested $8.1 million as of March 16, according to the MEDC’s annual report.
While Scout has lived up to its job creation commitment, the company’s incentives agreement expires April 30 next year, at which point the company is no longer on the hook to maintain the jobs, according to the terms of its contract.
“We continue to believe Scout has a strong future in Michigan,” Emerson said in an email. “This also highlights the competitive landscape we face every day for good-paying, innovation-driven jobs, not just for new investment — but for companies that already call Michigan home.”
Scout is investing heavily down South. The company broke ground in early 2024 on a $2 billion assembly plant in Blythewood, S.C., where it
plans to launch production of its electric vehicles in 2028, according to AutoForecast Solutions. Scout will make all-electric pickups and SUVs as well as an extended-range electric powertrain option.
In November, the company announced it would invest $207 million and create 1,200 jobs at a new headquarters in Charlotte, about an hour’s drive north of its assembly plant.
“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,” President and CEO Scott Keogh said in a news release at the time. “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.”
Bago said there are about 60 employees working at an interim office in Charlotte. As far as its permanent location, the company will “begin upfitting the first office building later this year.”
Scout’s parent company, VW, has also been
shrinking its presence in metro Detroit, where it is cutting 200 jobs and exiting its prominent 360,000-square-foot office in Auburn Hills for a nearby building less than a third the size. The downsizing is being subsidized by a $4 million grant, which officials said is needed to retain 909 jobs.
The shifts highlight the broader trend of Michigan auto jobs migrating south, an issue that policymakers have grappled with for years. The state’s
corporate subsidy-fueled economic development policy has come under fire for its mixed results.
A company’s R&D and engineering jobs tend to gravitate to where its products are produced. That’s proved to be a challenge for Michigan, which has had little success luring mass auto assembly operations beyond the Detroit 3.
Despite this, auto startups such as
Lucid Motors and
Slate have recently planted engineering flags in Michigan while mass producing their vehicles elsewhere.
