Lordstown Motors reverses, says it has no firm truck orders
Struggling electric truck maker Lordstown Motors says it doesn’t have any firm orders for its new pickups
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Struggling electric truck maker Lordstown Motors said Thursday it doesn't have any firm orders for its vehicles, just days after its president said the company had enough to maintain production through 2022.
Questions have been mounting about whether Lordstown Motors has enough money to stay in business and about its previous claims that it already had presold 100,000 of its Endurance pickup trucks.
Lordstown CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez resigned on Monday, the same day the company acknowledged one potential buyer that committed to a large number of preorders doesn’t appear to have the resources to complete that transaction, and other preorders appear too vague or weak to be relied on for purchases.
A day later, company President Rich Schmidt said during a meeting of the Automotive Press Association of Detroit that Lordstown was on track to begin making the Endurance in the fall and had enough binding orders to keep going through 2022.
But the company on Thursday said the statements about the orders were not accurate.
“Although these vehicle purchase agreements provide us with a significant indicator of demand for the Endurance, these agreements do not represent binding purchase orders or other firm purchase commitments,” the company said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The price for shares of the company, which have been cut in half this year, slid at the opening bell Thursday before recovering.
Last week, the company warned it might not be in business next year because of difficulty with securing funding to begin full production at its former General Motors plant in Ohio near Youngstown In a quarterly regulatory filing, the company said the $587 million it had on hand as of March 31 wasn’t enough to begin full commercial production.
Angela Strand, the company’s new chairwoman, said on Tuesday that the upheaval from the past week won’t interrupt the company’s day-to-day operations or its plans to start making the Endurance.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.