Lordstown Motors Stock Bumps Up 11%
LORDSTOWN, Ohio – Shares of electric-vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors Corp. closed 11.4% higher for the week ended March 25, capping off a steady increase since the stock hit its all-time low on March 14.
Lordstown Motors stock, which trades under the ticker symbol RIDE, closed at $3.12 per share on Friday, encouraged by higher fuel prices at the pump and renewed investor interest in the EV market.
RIDE stock is up 21.4% over the last 30 days, rebounding after hitting a 52-week low of $1.99 March 14.
The company has yet to reach a final asset purchase agreement and contract manufacturing deal with Foxconn, the Taiwanese tech giant that wants to purchase Lordstown Motors’ plant and build electric vehicles for the North American market.
Earlier this month, former Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns cashed in more than $19 million worth of stock in the company he founded. Burns resigned in June 2021 after an internal inquiry discovered that executives had exaggerated the number of pre-orders for the Endurance, the all-electric pickup under development at Lordstown Motors’ plant.
The company said in a regulatory filing this month that production of the Endurance would be limited to just 500 units this year and 2,500 vehicles in 2023.
That hasn’t dampened the company’s marketing efforts, though, as the company continues to place the Endurance in front of potential customers. In March, Lordstown Motors featured its signature vehicle at the NTEA Work Truck Week in Indianapolis.
“Our new senior leadership team at Lordstown Motors is in place, and we are building a company culture around three principles integrity, operating with transparency, and doing what we say,” company President Edward Hightower said March 24 during a presentation at the MIH Partner Gathering 2022. “Our mission is to accelerate EV adoption, and we have a clear strategy and clear focus on that mission.
“Our immediate focus is to launch the Endurance pickup truck in the third quarter of 2022. We’re an engineering technology company focused on the fundamentals of what it takes to build an all-electric truck specifically for work,” he said. The company is targeting the commercial fleet market.
Lordstown Motors wants to strike an agreement in which Foxconn would agree to some funding and build future Lordstown vehicles on its mobility-in-harmony, or MIH, platform.
Hightower noted that should the agreement with Foxconn be realized, it would give the partnership the capabilities to deliver “EV programs for multiple OEMs from concept through launch from strategy” that includes design, engineering, sourcing and manufacturing.
“From a global sourcing standpoint, with Foxconn being the largest contract manufacturer of consumer electronics in the world with partners such as Apple, Sony, Google and Microsoft, we see additional opportunities for scale through Foxconn’s sourcing and buying power,” he said. “We see that as an opportunity to lower the bill of material cost of our products, both the current Endurance and our future MIH products.”
The parties have until April 30 to reach an agreement. Foxconn has agreed in principle to purchase the plant – the former General Motors Lordstown Assembly plant – for $230 million. However, the sale is contingent upon both parties reaching a parallel contract manufacturing deal.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
