SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Seven auto parts manufacturers with plants in Spartanburg, Duncan and Piedmont plan to invest a combined $82 million and add 200 jobs to supply Scout Motors, the Volkswagen subsidiary building an electric vehicle assembly plant in South Carolina, according to reports by SC Daily Gazette and South Carolina Public Radio. Scout CEO Scott Keogh unveiled the supplier expansions Oct. 14 at a news conference at OneSpartanburg Inc., SCBIZ reported.
Spartanburg Steel accounts for nearly half the total, with a $40 million investment and 60 new jobs for stamped components, according to South Carolina Public Radio. Magna DRIVE will spend $15 million and hire 30 in Piedmont to produce Class A stampings and Class B assemblies, while KV Final plans $14 million and 50 jobs in Spartanburg for stamped parts. In Duncan, Röchling Automotive will invest $5 million and add 15 workers making active grille shutters and wheel-arch liners, and Bant Boru will put $270,000 and 15 jobs toward brake lines. Rounding out the list in Spartanburg are Magna Mirrors, with $5 million and 15 jobs for exterior mirrors, and Cooper Standard, with $3 million and 15 jobs for glass sealing systems.
All seven are expanding existing facilities rather than building new ones, SC Daily Gazette reported, and the companies already supply other South Carolina automakers, including BMW. Their parts will go to the Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra truck, which will be assembled at Scout’s $2 billion production center in Blythewood. Scout says that plant will employ 4,000 people. Test vehicles are slated to roll off the line by the end of 2026, with customer deliveries expected in 2028, according to the Gazette, which also reported it was unclear whether any of the suppliers would seek state tax credits. No timeline for the individual supplier expansions was disclosed.
Keogh framed the announcement as part of a broader push to build the supply chain domestically. “These supplier expansions are another step toward reshoring American manufacturing,” he said, as quoted by South Carolina Public Radio. Commerce Secretary Harry Lightsey said the state is seeing early returns from the Scout project. “And the reality is that we are witnessing only the beginning,” he said, according to the Gazette.
The geography of the deal underscores the Upstate’s depth in automotive supply. Roughly $67 million of the investment and 170 of the jobs land in Spartanburg County, with the remainder at Magna’s operations in Piedmont, which Greenville County economic development officials place in Greenville County. OneSpartanburg CEO Allen Smith said in a statement that “the Upstate has spent decades building a world-class manufacturing base,” SCBIZ reported. Scout has already drawn supplier investment elsewhere in the state, including Sodecia Aapico’s $120 million ladder-frame plant in Orangeburg County, announced last year with up to 392 jobs.
For commercial real estate professionals, the announcement signals that Scout’s supply chain is, at least initially, being absorbed by existing Upstate plants rather than new construction. That points to continued demand for expansions, equipment-heavy retrofits and nearby flex and warehouse space along the Interstate 85 and 26 corridors, while setting the stage for second-tier suppliers to seek industrial sites as Scout ramps toward its stated capacity of 200,000 vehicles a year.
Sources: SC Daily Gazette, South Carolina Public Radio, SCBIZ, Greenville Area Development Corp.
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