Lordstown Motors Cuts Planned 2021 Production In Half
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Lordstown Motors has cut its 2021 production forecast in half as it continues to seek additional investment to begin building the Lordstown Endurance electric pickup.
The company, which purchased the Lordstown Assembly plant off of General Motors back in 2019, originally said it would produce 2,200 examples of the Endurance this year. However, Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns amended that prediction in a news release published Monday, saying this year’s production tally would be “at best 50 percent” of its initial expectations.
Burns pointed to COVID-19 as the reason for the startup’s production woes, saying the pandemic has resulted in “significantly higher than expected” operating costs due to rising parts and shipping expenses. The company is still seeking additional investment to begin building the Endurance in large numbers, with Burns saying a lack of capital “may limit our ability to make as many vehicles as we would like.”
“We have encountered some challenges, including COVID-related and industry-wide related issues, as we progress towards our start of production deadline,” Lordstown Motors said in a statement. “These include significantly higher than expected expenditures for parts/equipment, expedited shipping costs, and expenses associated with third-party engineering resources. We secured a number of critical parts and equipment in advance, so we are still in a position to ramp the Endurance, but we do need additional capital to execute on our plans. We believe we have several opportunities to raise capital in various forms and have begun those discussions.”
Lordstown Motors said previously that it was seeking a loan from the U.S. Energy Department to begin re-tooling the Lordstown Assembly plant, which it purchased from GM for an undisclosed sum. The startup is also hoping to receive $200 million from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program – a federal loan program that has also lent cash to Tesla, Nissan and other automakers to help get certain light-duty vehicle projects off the ground.
The Ohio-based company was the target of a short-seller report published by Hindenberg Research earlier this year, which alleged Lordstown had misled investors in an effort to drum up interest in the company and attract additional capital. Lordstown Motors said previously that it had already received 100,000 non-binding pre-orders for the Endurance pickup, a number that Hindenberg claimed was “largely fictitious.” GM previously invested $75 million in Lordstown Motors, which became a publicly-traded company after merging with Delaware-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) DiamondPeak Holdings last year.
Despite the setbacks, Lordstown Motors says it has built 47 beta test versions of the Lordstown Endurance and is planning for the vehicle to enter production at its Ohio plant in the fourth-quarter of this year.
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Targeting fleet buyers with a $52,500 starting price? Good luck with that when Ford’s Lighting targeted at fleet buyers starts at just under $40,000.
Ouch, and that $40,000 is the pre-incentive price. People could be buying F-150s as low as the upper 20s/low 30s if they tack on state incentives.
I know “Lighting” was a typo, but it isn’t a bad name for it considering they put that kind of ridiculous light bar across the entire front end.
Love the Lightning light bar.
They have kept the spirit of the F150 and made some changes to reflect (or light up) the new model.
This is the tip of the iceberg. The truck handles better than most pickups because of lower centre of gravity and quick as hell.
Hurry up Silverado. This is going to a great era in vehicle development.
Unfortunately, I do not think these guys are going to make it. As much as I would like to see them do well, they just do not seem to have the pool of talent required for a project like this, and seem to stub their toe every time they try to walk.
I’d have liked to see it succeed as well, but I’m also not entirely convinced that it wasn’t just a scam to make a few executives rich off investment money.
This brand was doomed when they failed to win the postal contract. Even then it was a bit sketchy.
The Ford is the first nail and the coming Silverado is the next nail in its coffin.
This is just one of many that will fail.
Maybe GM can buy them out and expedite the truck at a better price, but I doubt it’s worth it.
Why buy what you already have coming. They had no advance tech or gimmick worth buying.
The GM truck has all they need now with more to come.
They plan on putting hub motors on actual road vehicles, but I’d assume anyone can do that. And everyone that’s looked at it has decided not to, so maybe it’s a terrible idea anyway.
But anyhow, I agree with those saying that the F-150 has made this entire company redundant.
Doesn’t the plant revert back to the original owner, which I believe is GM(sorry gm). This could have been the plan all along, let them convert the plant and take it back over along with any usable tech they might have. Would make sensor considering they have a battery plant right next door
No way do they have any tech that nobody else has access to.
They are just another Nikola….I will be floored if they actually become a relevant Truck Company.
time for pence to make another visit touting lordstown success.
Beware of a slick website with no mention of adverse conditions affecting your business. No transparency. I think I will take another look at Elio Motors which still has a website up and is taking deposits.
With only 2% of the vehicle market. EV’s are going to have a tough time for decades. Especially with all the competition, and poor sales. And few places to charge if you go out of your town.
It is a nice clean looking design. The other manufacturers will no doubt choke out parts availability to keep this company from succeeding.
It is going to take deep pockets to succeed in the EV business and even deeper pockets in the EV pickup business. Competition will be fierce.. I don’t see Lordstown Motors surviving long term. The market volume will be limited for many years so startup and sustaining expenses will kill off several makers.
Those with deep pockets will improve batteries, have longer ranges, improve technology, cut manufacturing costs, be able to sell for lower prices.