Lordstown May Halt Pickup Truck Production Unless Commercial Partner Found

EV maker Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ:RIDE) may pause commercial production of its all-electric pick-up truck Endurance if unable to find a partner.

What Happened: Lordstown Motors CEO and President Edward Hightower said on Monday that the company may decide to pause commercial production of the Endurance until a partner is identified.

Lordstown intends to build an initial batch of 500 Endurance vehicles this year of which 40 have been completed or are in process, said Hightower.

Hightower explained that the size of the initial batch was limited owing to the high manufacturing cost of Endurance as compared to its selling price.

“Forming the right partnerships will create the business rationale to invest in the hard tooling and VAVE actions required to reduce its BOM cost and scale production of the truck,” Hightower said.

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“While we continue to pursue partnership opportunities, should we not identify a partner in the coming months, we may decide to pause commercial production of the Endurance until a partner is identified,” he added.

Why Is It Important: Lordstown presently expects $100 million in preferred stock funding under the Foxconn investment agreement, said Chief Financial Officer Adam Kroll. It already has a partnership in place with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (OTCPK: HNHAF), commonly called Foxconn, for manufacturing the truck.

However, “Scaling the Endurance, even where we defined a strategic OEM partner, will require substantial additional capital,” he added.

Later in February, Lordstown announced a production and delivery halt to address quality and performance issues, sending shares on a slump.

Also Read: Lordstown Reduces Losses In Q4, Starts Selling Endurance BEV Pick-Up Truck, Expands Collaboration With Foxconn

Photo via Trump White House Archived on Flickr