Lordstown Motors secures $170M investment from Foxconn

Lordstown Motors Corp. on Monday entered into a deal under which Foxconn Ventures, an affiliate of Foxconn, will invest up to $170 million in the electric vehicle maker, making the Taiwanese contract manufacturer its largest shareholder.

Foxconn will purchase 12.9 million shares on or after Nov. 22 and an additional 26 million shares that will propel Foxconn’s holdings to 19.3 percent of Lordstown’s common stock and all of its preferred stock, surpassing founder Stephen Burn’s stake of 17.2 percent, according to Refinitiv.

Lordstown will use the proceeds from the share sales to fund development and design activities for a new electric vehicle program in collaboration with Foxconn, scrapping its earlier joint venture deal with the manufacturer, it said in a filing, sending shares up 7 percent to $2.06 in extended trading on Monday.

Separately, the startup reported a net loss of $154.4 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, wider than a loss of $95.8 million a year earlier.

While demand for electric vehicles has surged globally, supply chain disruptions and rising material costs have made it tough for companies to raise output and meet red-hot demand.

Foxconn started manufacturing Lordstown’s Endurance pickup trucks in September after buying the U.S. company’s Ohio facility. The deal was prompted by the need to clinch funds essential for the start of production of the Endurance.

Lordstown expects to limit production of the Endurance through 2023 or longer to minimize losses, until it is able to cut its materials cost.

Lordstown said on Monday that its cost of materials to build the Endurance electric pickup truck was higher than the price it intends to sell at, adding that it would not see positive gross margins until its bill of material outlays decline.

The truck maker said it will also use proceeds from the equity sale to hire engineers and fund operations, including building the first 500 pickup trucks.

Lordstown Motors purchased a then-shut GM factory in 2019 with the aim of building battery-powered trucks.