- lordstown motors is an ev startup based in ohio that had promised to start building its planned endurance pickup truck soon. it was originally promised to fleet customers early this year and to others by the end of the year.
- the company said in a regulatory filing that it does not have enough cash to start production on the vehicle, an admission that raises serious doubts about the company's future.
- lordstown is facing new competition on the ev-pickup front from ford, which recently unveiled the crowd-pleasing f-150 lightning ev.
update 6/14/21: lordstown has announced that chief executive officer steve burns and chief financial officer julio rodriguez are resigning from the company, effective immediately. as the new york times reported today, the resignations come after the release of results of an internal investigation led by lordstown's board of directors. the probe found "issues regarding the accuracy of certain statements regarding the company's pre-orders." angela strand will take over as lordstown's interim ceo, and becky roof will be the company's interim cfo.
lordstown motors, an ev startup based in an ohio town of the same name, doesn't have enough money to start building trucks by the end of the year as previously promised. that revelation came in a regulatory filing on tuesday and was first reported by the wall street journal. lordstown's inability to start production on its first product raises serious questions about the viability of the company and how long it can continue operating.
lordstown had originally promised that it would start building its endurance pickup truck, with a promised 600 horsepower and roughly 250 miles of range, early this year. fleet customers were supposed to get first dibs at the trucks, and lordstown said private customers could expect delivery by the end of the year. however, by this spring it was clear production had never begun. the endurance was unveiled last summer with then vice president mike pence in attendance.
this isn't the first we've heard of trouble at the startup. it was the subject in march of a report from investment research firm hindenburg research, which said the company had misled investors and may have been lying about pre-orders for its truck (the company says it has 100,000 pre-orders from fleet customers). also in march, the lordstown confirmed it was the subject of a securities and exchange commission investigation.
even without its apparently serious financial problems, lordstown was facing new and stiff competition on the ev pickup front. ford unveiled an ev version of its bestselling f-150 last month and claims to have raked in tens of thousands of pre-orders in the first days after the reveal.
we'll update this page as we learn more about lordstown's future.