As it hunts for investors, Lordstown Motors Corp. has produced a slick new video about its plans to produce an all-electric pickup at the Ohio plant once owned by General Motors.
The company, which bought GM’s former Lordstown Assembly plant near Youngstown last year, said the new video will be part of a series.
Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns narrates the company’s mission and goals, ending it by saying, “Come ride with us, ride with Lordstown.”
Burns said the company wants to be the first in the country to produce an all-electric pickup called the Endurance. He goes on to say other goals are to provide jobs and meet consumers’ needs.
“The mission of Lordstown Motors is to empower the worker’s spirit,” said Burns in the video. “Everything we do is with the worker in mind, both our worker who is making the truck and the worker who will use it.”
The Endurance will be like “no other truck ever made,” Burns said. “Lordstown, Ohio, has a long history of vehicle-making and the people here are enduring. We’ve got the best of the best. So come ride with us, ride with Lordstown.”
GM sold the 6.2-million square-foot facility to Lordstown Motors on Nov. 7 after idling the plant in March. GM relocated most of the 1,600 workers there to other GM jobs in different states. The plant and adjoining five parcels of land sold for $20 million, according to local records.
A month later, GM made a $40 million loan available to Lordstown Motors to help the startup began building electric trucks there. Lordstown Motors has a short timeline to retool the plant and start production because GM’s option to lease the facilities and land expires April 1, and the option to repurchase the assets expires May 30.
According to Forbes in a report last November, Lordstown Motors retained Cleveland investment bank Gibbons Lang & Co. to help it raise $450 million. “The capital will be mostly equity but will also include a variety of debt instruments yet to be determined,” the magazine said.
GM had built the Chevrolet Cruze subcompact car at Lordstown, but in November 2018, GM said it would close four U.S. plants, including Lordstown. It was ending production of some of its sedans as customer preference shifted to SUVs and pickups.
Lordstown Motors said it will build the Endurance electric pickup using components licensed from Workhorse of suburban Cincinnati. The Endurance, which is expected to sell for about $50,000, is designed for fleet sales, the company said, and is a lightweight, all-wheel drive vehicle with a low center of gravity.
Burns told the Free Press in a previous report that the new company wants to begin production by the end of next year and it will hire about 450 people initially and the workforce will be unionized.
In December, GM said it will partner with South Korea’s LG Chem to build batteries for electric vehicles in a factory to be located near Lordstown. It will create 1,100 jobs. GM will break ground on it by midyear.
More: GM sells its Lordstown Assembly plant to electric truck start-up
More: GM lends millions to Lordstown Motors with an option to buy back plant
Contact Jamie L. LaReau: 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.
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