Corporate Welfare Fail: Scout Motors Seeks Another $200 Million From South Carolina

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by WILL FOLKS

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Two months after sticking it to South Carolina by locating its corporate headquarters in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, crony capitalist carmaker Scout Motors – a subsidiary of über-woke Volkswagen – is asking Palmetto State taxpayers for hundreds of millions more of their hard-earned money.

The corporate welfare recipient – which already got a whopping $1.3 billion in incentives three years ago – is reportedly dealing with “cost overruns” at its massive manufacturing facility near Blythewood, S.C. 

This facility – which company leaders insist will create 4,600 jobs – has yet to produce a single vehicle. Now, sources familiar with the situation say Scout is petitioning governor Henry McMaster and leaders of the S.C. General Assembly to shell out another $200 million to address these cost overruns.

A massive taxpayer-funded bailout, in other words…

McMaster, ever Scout’s dutiful cheerleader, is pushing lawmakers hard to approve the request – although he is reportedly encountering stiff resistance across both the partisan and ideological spectrum.

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RELATED | SCOUT MOTORS STICKS IT TO S.C.

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“Not just ‘no,’ hell no!” one lawmaker familiar with Scout’s request emphatically told FITSNews.

Two months ago, Scout announced its intention to locate its new corporate headquarters in the Queen City – bringing an estimated 1,200 high-paying, corporate jobs and $200 million in capital investment to North Carolina. Scout chose Charlotte over Charleston, S.C., an abject humiliation for McMaster – who has breathlessly fellated Scout for years.

Last year, McMaster unsuccessfully championed legislation which would have given the woke EV automaker an undeserved leg-up on its competitors by ensconcing it as the only vehicle manufacturer permitted to bypass the Palmetto State’s established dealer marketplace. McMaster also unsuccessfully sought an additional $100 million in recurring annual funding for EV industry scholarships from the S.C. Education Lottery.

FITSNews has consistently opposed market-distorting crony capitalist subsidies – and specifically the Scout deal, which is looking more and more like previous failed boondoggles with each passing day.

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“Scout got an insanely (and we mean insanely) good deal from South Carolina lawmakers, one no government in its right mind should have ever offered up based on prevailing market conditions,” I noted in a recent editorial.

Not only that, the deal was rushed through the legislature in just seven days – providing absolutely no opportunity for public scrutiny.

Which appears to have been the whole point…

South Carolina made its massive investment in Scout at a time when the EV market was already showing signs of collapse – which is probably why no other state seriously entertained the project (save Mississippi, which offered a comparatively small $150 million in total incentives to the company).

Needless to say, we encourage lawmakers to reject McMaster’s latest entreaties on behalf of this über-woke crony capitalist corporation…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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