Brose Sitech establishes facility in Scout Motors supplier park

Brose Sitech, a joint venture between Brose and Volkswagen, is setting up a new manufacturing facility within Scout Motors’ supplier park in Blythewood, South Carolina. The site will be used to build complete seating systems for the Scout Traveler and Terra.

Scout Motors broke ground on its Blythewood production centre in February 2024

Scout Motors

Brose Sitech will build complete seating systems for the Scout Traveler SUV and Scout Terra pickup truck at a new plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, the supplier announced on October 28, 2026. The $29.5 million site is still under development inside the Scout Motors Supplier Park and is expected to create nearly 330 jobs, giving Brose Sitech its first US manufacturing workforce.

Localising logistics

Brose Sitech’s 140,000 sq ft facility will be located at the JIT site in the Scout Supplier Park in Blythewood. By locating suppliers close to final assembly, Scout can improve logistics efficiency by reducing the distance components need to travel and supporting just-in-time (JIT) deliveries. According to Brose Sitech, this proximity will allow it to respond directly to production requirements while supporting a reliable and efficient supply chain.

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A seat is a harder item to localise than most automotive production parts. It is bulky, it comes in many trim and feature combinations, and it must reach the line in the order the vehicles are built. Brose Sitech’s own fact sheet talks of sequenced assembly and reliable JIT delivery, and lists just-in-sequence among the skills of its complete seat offer.

Scout announced its supplier park in September 2025 as a $300 million investment on 200 acres beside the production centre, with more than 2.3 million sq ft of specialised space and around 1,000 supplier jobs. Brose Sitech is the latest Scout supplier to name a South Carolina location, and the one that makes car seats.

“When we announced we would build an on-site supplier park at the Scout Motors Production Center last year, we promised it would lead to even more jobs, investment, and economic prosperity in South Carolina – this announcement represents the beginning of that promise being fulfilled,” said Scott Keogh, president and CEO of Scout Motors. “We’re proud to partner with Brose Sitech to create more opportunities for South Carolina communities and further strengthen the local automotive supply chain.”

A supplier with two parents

Brose Sitech is not an ordinary newcomer. It began operating as an independent seat supplier on January 1, 2022, and Brose and Volkswagen each held 50% of the venture at launch. The venture was built around Sitech, a seat subsidiary of Volkswagen, with Brose acquiring half of it. Brose took industrial leadership, and the venture is consolidated by Brose. That lineage explains the headline figure that Brose Sitech has supplied car seats, seat structures and interior components for more than 28 years.

The ownership matters here because of the customer in question. Scout is an independently run subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, with its own executive team and board. The supplier’s co-owner is therefore also the parent of its new customer. The documents do not say how the award was made, and the ownership split quoted above dates from the 2022 launch. What they do show is a supplier whose first US factory serves a sister company’s brand.

Building a plant and a team together

The plant will recruit and develop its workforce in South Carolina across a wide range of manufacturing and supporting functions. Brose Sitech is positioning itself against larger employers, arguing that staff will have greater visibility and more say over their careers. It also plans to work with schools and colleges, support workforce development and mentor future talent.

“We are excited to establish Brose Sitech in Blythewood and become part of the local community,” said Chad Nelson, plant manager at Brose Sitech. “Building a new production facility from the ground up gives us the opportunity to create a strong team and culture from day one. We are looking for people who want to grow with us and help build the future of Brose Sitech in the United States.”

South Carolina’s widening supply base

The state’s pitch is an established automotive manufacturing environment, a skilled workforce and a strong supplier network. Local politicians are already counting on the effect.

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“The decision by Brose Sitech to establish its first US manufacturing facility in South Carolina is a testament to the momentum created by Scout Motors’ historic investment in the Midlands,” said Joe Wilson, representative of the Second Congressional District of South Carolina. “This announcement is another important step in the growth of South Carolina’s automotive industry, and I look forward to the jobs, investment, and long-term economic opportunities it will create for communities across our state,”

Headquartered in Polkowice, Poland, Brose Sitech offers complete seating systems and individual foam and trim solutions, together with its subsidiary Proseat and associated company Covercar. More than 8,000 employees work at 22 locations in Poland, Germany, Czechia, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, India, China and the US, and more than 300 engineers work on future interiors.

Seats are bulky, come in many variants and are built in sequence, which makes proximity matter, but what gets made around them, and how soon, is the better test of how deep this localisation goes.

Source: www.automotivelogistics.media