LORDSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Taiwan-based Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) and Lordstown Motors have reached an agreement in principle to work jointly on electric vehicle programs at the Lordstown Motors plant. The agreement is non-binding.
So, Lordstown Motors will soon have a new partner to help build the all-electric Endurance pickup truck.
If details can be worked out, Foxconn will purchase approximately $50 million of Lordstown Motors’ common stock and will buy the assembly plant for $230 million.
Foxconn, a multinational electronics contract manufacturing company, is a partner of Apple and the world’s largest iPhone maker.
Lordstown Motors CEO Dan Ninivaggi tweeted after the announcement was officially made just after 6 p.m. Thursday.
Lordstown Motors would keep control of the Lordstown Motors hub motor assembly line, battery module and packing line assets. Foxconn would then manufacture the Endurance at the plant.
Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber President Guy Coviello says this partnership could be really good news for the Valley.
“It creates possibilities of additional vehicles being built there… We see supply chain opportunities that might grow as a result of this,” he said.
Additionally, the facility would also serve as a speed-to-market asset that would also support Foxconn’s partner and customer Fisker, another auto company.
We reached out to former president of UAW Local 1112 Tim O’Hara to get his input on the announcement locally.
Since GM dropped the bomb on us in November 2018, the entire Lordstown Motors saga has continued to evolve and generate uncertainty as to what the future will actually hold. The announcement today doesn’t really change much until we get more details about who is actually involved in purchasing the complex and what they intend to do with it. Hopefully, for the economic future of the Valley, our former plants end up producing some type of vehicles at some point. But in the end, nothing will replace the 5,000 union jobs that General Motors unjustly eliminated.
Tim O’Hara
Lordstown Motors acquired the plant less than two years ago from General Motors.
We also learned Thursday night that Lordstown Motors still hasn’t started production of the Endurance. They’re building a limited number of vehicles for testing and hope to get regulatory approvals to start building the vehicle later this year or early next year.
Under this agreement, current Lordstown Motors workers will be retained by Foxconn.
Thursday’s news also sent the price of Lordstown Motors’ stock up. At noon, it was trading at $8.02 a share, which is a 66-cent increase from Wednesday — a jump of 8.9 percent. At its highest Thursday morning, it was up 18 percent.
