Lordstown runs short of funding for serial production
Lordstown Motors plans to start production of its all-electric Endurance pickup truck in September, but has so far given no indication of the intended production volume. Now Lordstown CEO Steve Burns has announced that the company needs additional capital.
According to US media, 2,200 units of the Endurance had been planned for production this year. Without the additional funding, it could be less than 1,000 vehicles, as Carscoops writes. According to the report, Burns stated during a telephone conference that talks had been held with strategic investors. Alternatively, a loan is apparently being investigated, in which the production facilities and other assets are to be deposited as collateral. It is not clear from the media reports how much money is involved.
Lordstown Motors has been listed since last year after merging with a SPAC. This spring, the company was attacked by short-seller Hindenburg Research. Unlike at Nikola Motor, for example, the short-seller’s accusations at Lordstown did not result in the resignation of the CEO. According to Hindenburg, it had found out that the 100,000 pre-orders were “largely fictitious” and were primarily intended to raise capital. In addition, a prototype of the Endurance is said to have burned out completely during a first road test in January 2021 after only ten minutes. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is still investigating the allegations.
Lordstown had unveiled the electric pickup in summer 2020 in the presence of former US Vice President Mike Pence. The vehicle relies on four wheel-hub motors, which together are supposed to produce 447 kW. The battery cells come from LG Energy Solution. Around the time of the premiere, it was said that Lordstown planned to produce 20,000 units in 2021. In the meantime, even in the best-case scenario, the number of vehicles is significantly lower.
A report by InsideEVs suggests that things are not going well in other areas either. At the end of March, a first beta prototype was presented, of which 57 were supposedly built. However, none of these vehicles have been seen in road tests, which is highly unusual for a vehicle that is supposed to be built in series from September.
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