Lordstown Motor Company will show a production-ready version of its new Endurance electric pickup truck at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which has been moved to a new summer date for 2020 and beyond.
After its Detroit debut, the new electric pickup, which will be mainly intended for fleet use, will enter production at the company’s Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant before the end of the year. The automaker purchased the Lordstown Assembly plant from General Motors last year, accepting a $40-million loan from the automaker in order to acquire the 6.2-million sq.-ft. facility.
Lordstown Assembly exterior in 2012
This week, Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns revealed he is seeking a further $200 million in funding from the U.S. Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. This loan would help the company to re-tool the Lordstown plant and ramp up production of the Endurance electric truck, but he claims the company could operate as planned without it.
“We think we are worthy of government help. We don’t want a handout – we want a loan,” Burns told Reuters in an interview. “It’s just going to be more jobs faster if we get it. We are viable without it.”
Prices for the Endurance will start at $52,500 before government incentives. While the truck will be aimed at fleet buyers, it will still be available to consumers, though it may face stiff competition in the market thanks to the GMC HUMMER EV pickup, the Tesla Cybertruck, the Rivian R1T and other upcoming entries. Lordstown is also taking pre-orders for the truck, charging customers $1,000 to reserve their spot in line, which they can do via Lordstown Motors’ website.
Workhorse W-15
Powertrain statistics for the Endurance are not currently available, but the company has said that it will meet or exceed the performance “of the most popular full-size pickups in the market,” and will be able to travel up to 260 miles on a single charge.
Lordstown Motors plans to hire roughly 400 unionized UAW workers this year to build the Endurance truck at Lordstown Assembly. It will also build the plug-in hybrid Workhorse W-15 at the plant, which it previously received 6,000 pre-orders for from fleet buyers. The W-15 features an electric powertrain and a 1.5-liter three-cylinder BMW engine as a range extender.
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Source: Reuters
Comment
The front end needs some plastic surgery.