Taiwan’s Hon Hai Technology Group on Thursday announced it has completed the purchase of Lordstown Motors’s facility in Ohio and signed two manufacturing agreements with the embattled American automaker.
According to Hon Hai, the deal is part of plans to set Ohio up to become its first production hub for electric vehicles (EV) in North America.
Lordstown is currently under investigation by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly misleading investors with falsified claims of 100,000 preorders for its flagship pickup truck, the Endurance, which has yet to enter production, according to TechCrunch.
Following the Asset Purchase Agreement signed in November 2021 with Lordstown Motors Corp. (LMC) regarding its production plant in Lordstown, Ohio, the transaction has been approved by regulatory authorities and the process of purchasing the assets completed, Hon Hai announced through a press release.
Per the agreement, about 400 employees of LMC, will be transferred to Hon Hai, which has set to collaborate with other OEMs to tap global commercial EV markets, according to the release.
“In the future, Ohio will be Hon Hai’s important electric vehicle manufacturing hub in North America,” said the company, also known by its trade name Foxconn globally.
After the sale of its Lordstown facility to Hon Hai, LMC will retain a presence in Lordstown, along with engineering and technical centers, as well as corporate staff, in Farmington Hills, Michigan and Irvine, California, LMC said in a press release on May 11.
Meanwhile, Hon Hai announced Thursday “a key milestone” of the signing of a joint venture agreement for product development with LMC, under which Hon Hai will invest US$55 million in the new joint venture and hold a 55 percent stake.
Both parties will use Hon Hai’s Mobility in Harmony Open EV Platform, an open EV ecosystem that promotes collaboration in the mobility industry, to co-design and develop vehicle programs for the global commercial EV markets, Hon Hai said.
Hon Hai and LMC also entered into a contract manufacturing agreement for LMC’s flagship vehicle, the Endurance, a full-size, all-electric pickup truck, according to their releases.
Hon Hai said it would leverage the Lordstown team’s automaking experience and bring the Endurance into mass production.
According to Hon Hai, this is expected to begin in the third quarter of this year.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel