General Motors has confirmed the sale of its
shuttered Ohio plant to Lordstown Motors Corp (LMC), an electric truck startup
connected to Workhorse Group. The terms of the deal were not made public, but The General seemed
pleased with the arrangement. “GM is committed to future investment and job
growth in Ohio and we believe LMC’s plan to launch the Endurance electric
pickup has the potential to create a significant number of jobs and help the
Lordstown area grow into a manufacturing hub for electrification,” the
automaker said.
Workhorse Group owns 10 percent of Lordstown Motors,
the company formed specifically for the transaction. The two entities also
share intellectual property related to electric drive systems. Workhorse is not
in great financial shape at the moment, totaling just US$ 6,000 of revenue during
the latest quarter.
After securing the plant, Lordstown Motors is now
looking for cash to convert the plant from making ICE-powered passenger cars to
plug-in pickups. It claims it has the money to buy the plant and work on the
new vehicle, but will need more funds to continue development, conduct crash
and safety testing and get type approval. The truck will feature four
electric motors, one at each wheel, for AWD capability as well as outlets that
enable owners to plug power tools. Until the Endurance truck goes into
production, Workhorse Group may transfer 6,000 existing pre-orders for the W-15
plug-in hybrid truck prototype to the Ohio facility.
Workhorse Group may provide more work for the
Lordstown plant if it wins a lucrative contract to build plug-in mail trucks
for the U.S. Postal Service – but, obviously, there’s no guarantee that will
happen. If everything goes according to plan, the factory’s new owner plans
to hire 400 employees next year via UAW and start production as early as the
second half of 2020. The company will go after experienced workers who didn’t
accept GM’s offer to move to one of its other facilities.
