YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Taiwan-based Hon Hai Technology Group, more commonly known as Foxconn, has affirmed that the North American version of its Model C electric sport utility vehicle will begin production by the end of this year.

Just where it will be manufactured is still unknown.

According to the news outlet Focus Taiwan, Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said during an investors conference in Taipei that the vehicle is scheduled to begin commercial production in the North American market during the fourth quarter of 2025.

Foxconn has not announced where the new vehicle will be built. Currently, the Model C is manufactured in Taiwan and sold under the Foxtron brand, a subsidiary of Foxconn. 

In 2022, the company acquired the Lordstown assembly plant from Lordstown Motors Corp. Foxconn has said it intends to use that plant to develop and manufacture EV products for the American market. Initially, Foxconn was to manufacture the Endurance EV pickup truck for Lordstown Motors.

That partnership dissolved, and Lordstown Motors declared bankruptcy. A second potential deal with EV startup Fisker Inc. also fell apart as that company also ended up in bankruptcy.

That plant today produces the MK-V, an EV autonomous-option tractor for California-based Monarch Tractor. Yet that project takes up just a small portion of the 1 million square feet of manufacturing space at the Lordstown plant – a former General Motors factory that once produced more than 300,000 vehicles each year.

In early October, Jun Seki, Foxconn strategy chief for EVs, told Bloomberg TV that it would take approximately five years to build out the Lordstown plant.

Liu also announced to investors that Foxconn was close to signing agreements with two Japanese automakers within the next two months to help develop EVs using the company’s contract design and manufacturing services, according to Focus Taiwan.

Foxconn first unveiled the new Model C in October during Hon Hai Tech Day, noting it was working with “American partners” on design and development for the North American market.  The company declined to identify those partners.

Andy Lee, CEO of Foxtron, said then that the North American version of the vehicle would include several alterations from the Taiwanese vehicle. The vehicle was first launched in Taiwan during the first quarter of 2024.

Among the revised features are the expansion of the vehicle’s S-duct design to reduce wind drag, new styling and steering wheel and a new user interface, or UI, design, Lee said.  

Lee added that the North American version of Foxtron’s Model C has adopted a North American Charging Standard, enabling it to access charging infrastructure across the country.

“Stay tuned,” Lee said at the Tech Day event.

Pictured at top: Foxconn’s revised Model C was unveiled during Hon Hai Tech Day in Taipei, Taiwan, in October 2024.