Lordstown Motors expects to deliver its first electric vehicle
, an pickup truck called the Endurance, to drivers by September 2022. But with all the public controversy and struggle the company’s endured over the last two years, the projection is being met by plenty of skepticism. Since going public in late 2019, Lordstown has been marred by prototype-testing mishaps, faked pre-orders, and accusations of shady stock sales.
Major changes were made after Lordstown founder Stephen Burns was forced out in June 2021. Will it be enough to get the EV truck maker back on track? Jerry
, your car-ownership super app
, took a closer look to find out. The twisted tale of Lordstown Motors
Lordstown, Ohio has relied on automaking since General Motors (GM) arrived there in 1966. Things were not looking good for the town of 3,200 when the automaker shut down the facility in 2019. But it all was not lost thanks to a new EV startup, the aptly named Lordstown Motors
. In deal a with GM, Stephen Burns acquired the plant along with $25 million in startup cash for a 5% stake in the new company. The investment was a good start, but to get Lordstown off the ground, Burns and his team needed to raise a lot more funds.
They did that by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) which put them on the stock market, giving them access to public investors. The move raised Lordstown’s value to $4 billion dollars, enough for Burns & Co. to project production to begin by the end of 2020.
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COVID-19 created chaos for Lordstown, but not on its own
The pandemic did plenty to stall Lordstown’s progress, but like many things, it also revealed problems that were already there. In fact, by the end of 2020, it looked like the new company was weathering the global crisis pretty well.
In September 2020, Lordstown Motors had a peak market value of $6 billion. By January 2021, the company said it had secured over 100,000 pre-orders for the Endurance. But that same month, a prototype of the electric pickup
caught on fire during testing. The incident was followed by a damning Hindenburg Research
report about the company that claimed, among other things, that the 100,000 pre-orders were faked. By May, Lordstown had lost millions of dollars. By mid-June, Burns and his CFO Julio Rodriguez were out. MORE: Rivian vs. Cybertruck: What You Need to Know
Can Lordstown survive getting burned by Burns?
The loss of its founder and a sinking stock value spurred Lordstown to reach out to Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn for support. A deal was signed in November 2021.
With the giant tech firm behind them and a new CEO
, Lordstown hopes to have the Endurance ready for drivers by the third quarter of this year—two years later than originally anticipated. Even if Lordstown manages to reach its goal, the Endurance will be entering a much more crowded field than it would’ve in 2020.
Rivian delivered its electric pickup, the R1T, to consumers last year, the Ford F-150 Lightning
will be out this spring, and pickups from Chevy, GMC, and Tesla are expected in 2023. There are still a lot of mountains left for Lordstown to climb, and with such a turbulent history, investors seem hesitant to bet on the EV builder. As of March, the company was worth $412 million, a fraction of its peak value.
Whether Lordstown lives up to its pickup truck’s name is anyone’s guess at this point.