Foxconn starts EV production in US with first Lordstown pickups

TAIWAN’S Foxconn Technology Group has started building electric vehicles (EV) for Lordstown Motors, a milestone as the company better known for making iPhones diversifies its operations.

Lordstown expects to deliver 50 of its Endurance pickups this year after the first 2 rolled off the line at a former General Motors plant in Ohio, according to a statement on Thursday (Sep 29). The EV company will have to raise additional capital to deliver the next 450 vehicles planned for the first batch of production, currently slated to be handed over in the first half of 2023.

Initial output is moving slowly due to “part pedigree and part availability issues,” Lordstown chief executive officer Edward Hightower said in the statement. Lordstown shares fell 5.8 per cent at 10:01 am in New York.

For Foxconn, the primary maker of Apple’s signature phone, the start of production marks a significant step in its push into the EV space. The tech giant has said it plans to build vehicles for Fisker at the Ohio factory in addition to the ones for Lordstown. It also revealed its own “Foxtron”-branded prototypes last October, including a city bus, and has held talks with Saudi Arabia about making EVs there.

Foxconn had previously struggled to see through an LCD factory in the US that it had spent years during the Trump administration touting. That project has since stalled, and the plans have been greatly diminished.

The start of production with Lordstown comes 4 months after Foxconn completed its purchase of the plant. The company gave Lordstown US$230 million in exchange for the factory and invested US$55 million in a new joint venture with the startup, giving it much-needed cash.

Lordstown said on Thursday that it expects to finish the third quarter with US$195 million in cash and equivalents. BLOOMBERG