What’s Driving the Lordstown Endurance’s Existential Crisis? (Hint: $$$)

• Lordstown Motors signals that continued production of its electric Endurance pickup may cease if the company is not able to find a strategic partner and further investment.

• The Ohio-based EV maker has produced just a few hundred units of the pickup, halting production for months following issues with parts and performance.

• The EV startup, which has partnered with electronics giant Foxconn, is currently undergoing a dispute with the Taiwanese company which was prompted by Lordstown's stock slide, and signals that it may seek bankruptcy protection.

The Endurance pickup that entered production at the former GM factory in Lordstown, Ohio, in 2022 with help from iPhone maker Foxconn, barely made it into hundreds of units before dark clouds once again gathered over the plant. The EV maker—which faced plenty of delays and controversy prior to Foxconn's effective bailout of its production plans with the signing of an plant purchase and operating agreement this time last year—now faces a falling out with the Taiwanese electronics giant, which has its own aspirations for EV manufacturing in the US.

The recent crisis was prompted by Lordstown stock falling below the $1 a share mark, which prompted Foxconn during the third week of April to allege a breach, following a delisting notice from Nasdaq, thus putting into limbo Foxconn's $170 million investment agreement. The price of Lordstown Motors stock dipped below $1 in March 2023, and currently trades at $0.37.

Foxconn indicated that the deal would be terminated if Lordstown could not correct course in the span of a month, which could require a reverse stock split that could buoy the stock's price to prevent a delisting.

The stock price drama obscures a larger issue: Lack of additional capital that could keep the Endurance in production.

"We need significant additional funding to execute our business plan. We are also seeking strategic partners, including other automakers, to provide additional capital and other support to enable us to scale the Endurance program and to develop new vehicle programs in coordination with Foxconn or otherwise," Lordstown said in a filing.

Lordstown had indicated even months ago, however, that further production of the Endurance was entirely subject to successful raising of additional capital. Without that additional capital, the EV maker had only planned to produce and deliver only about 500 pickup trucks in 2022 and 2023.

The EV maker has focused its efforts on its direct sales model to fleets. But it has admitted that its low production levels, as well as its inability to achieve steady serial production, has dented its chances of obtaining large orders from fleets. It hasn't helped matters that the Endurance now faces stiff competition from the Ford F-150 Lightning in the fleet business.