Lordstown Sells Ohio Factory To Foxconn To Manufacture Its Own EV

Lordstown motors have sold its factory in Ohio to the world's largest contract manufacturer Foxconn in a bid to close a deal with the Chinese giant to start making its own vehicles on its behalf. Lordstown had originally acquired the factory from General Motors for $20 million and had plans of manufacturing its EV pick up the Endurance. The production was supposed to start this year but it was always unlikely as the factory needed retooling and there was a need for other work especially as the Endurance was going to be the first passenger vehicle with in-wheel hub motors which is a new technology and largely unproven.

Lordstown had gone public via a SPAC merger and its valuation soared to $4 billion and they even managed 100,000 orders for the Endurance pickup trucks. But things started turning badly for the company as its first prototype caught fire during the first drive. Then its CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigned earlier this summer.

Earlier in the year, the CEO and CFO of Lordstown quit

Lordstown is trying to stabilise things by closing a deal with the manufacturer of the iPhone which is trying to elevate profitability with its foray into the manufacturing of electric vehicles. As a part of the deal, Lordstown will sell the factory for $230 million and will also sell $50 million worth of shares to the Chinese manufacturing giant.

The two are looking at closing a contract manufacturing agreement, a licensing agreement and, Lordstown will also have a long-term lease agreement for a portion of the facility for its Ohio-based employees.