Lordstown aims to boost EV production with Foxconn investment, seeks new automaker partner

Struggling electrical motortruck startup Lordstown Motors inactive plans to present the archetypal examples of its Endurance pickup motortruck earlier the extremity of the year, the institution said Tuesday, a time aft it announced a caller concern from Taiwanese declaration shaper Foxconn.

Lordstown said that it is present gathering the Endurance astatine "a precise dilatory rate" portion it works to physique retired its assembly enactment and awaits last regulatory support to merchantability the trucks. The institution present expects to physique astir 30 pickups for merchantability by year-end, and to implicit the remainder of the archetypal batch of 500 trucks by the extremity of June 2023.

Lordstown said successful precocious September that it hoped to physique 50 trucks by year-end. To date, it has completed 12 trucks.

Lordstown's shares were up implicit 15% successful premarket trading connected Tuesday.

The institution said precocious connected Monday that Foxconn, which already owns a involvement successful Lordstown and bought its Ohio mill for $230 cardinal successful May, volition put an further $170 cardinal successful 3 phases, with the archetypal $52.7 cardinal owed aboriginal this month. Once those investments are completed, Foxconn volition ain astir 18% of Lordstown and volition person the close to designate 2 members of its committee of directors.

Lordstown said it volition usage portion of that concern to make a caller conveyance unneurotic with Foxconn. The companies had antecedently announced a associated task to make a caller model; the caller backing replaces that associated venture.

The concern helps code a deficiency of superior that has hindered Lordstown's efforts to get the Endurance into production.

Lordstown antecedently told investors that its archetypal batch of Endurance pickups volition beryllium limited to a maximum of 500 vehicles due to the fact that the outgo of gathering a pickup is presently "materially higher" than the company's expected selling price. Additional investments successful manufacturing tooling would bring the outgo down, but CEO Edward Hightower has deferred those investments to sphere cash.

Lordstown said connected Tuesday that it is actively seeking an automaker spouse to assistance standard up accumulation of the Endurance.

The updates came arsenic portion of Lordstown's third-quarter net report. Lordstown, which doesn't yet grounds revenue, reported a nett nonaccomplishment of $154.4 million, oregon 73 cents a share, including astir $75 cardinal successful non-cash accounting charges related to the merchantability of its mill to Foxconn.

The institution had $204 cardinal successful currency remaining arsenic of quarter-end.