Employees set up door hinges to the physique shell of a prototype Endurance electrical pickup truck on June 21, 2021 at Lordstown Motors meeting plant in Ohio.
Michael Wayland | CNBC
Embattled electrical truck startup Lordstown Motors on Thursday reaffirmed plans to start industrial manufacturing of its first car this quarter and roll out the primary buyer deliveries by the top of the yr.
Lordstown CEO Edward Hightower stated manufacturing of the Endurance pickup will probably be sluggish and largely reliant on capital availability. He stated the corporate solely expects to provide about 500 autos by way of early 2023 — a particularly sluggish manufacturing ramp-up by business requirements.
CFO Adam Kroll stated the corporate might want to elevate “considerably extra capital” to provide the preliminary 500 Endurance electrical pickups, although the corporate initiatives it’ll want much less cash than beforehand thought.
The corporate stated it might want to elevate between $50 million and $75 million this yr, down from earlier expectations of $150 million. Lordstown will want extra capital in 2023, Kroll stated.
Lordstown, alongside its second-quarter results, stated its money stability of $236 million on the finish of the primary half of the yr was above inner expectations and extends the cash-strapped firm’s runway — however is not sufficient to fund manufacturing.
Lordstown’s inventory jumped roughly 12% at market open Thursday to about $3.30 a share. The inventory is down about 5% this yr and off 63% from its 52-week excessive of $8.93 a share. The corporate’s market cap is roughly $600 million.
The corporate reported its first quarterly working revenue of $61.3 million for the interval ended June 30, regardless of not delivering any autos, on positive aspects associated to the sale of its Ohio manufacturing unit to contract producer Foxconn. The revenue included a $101.7 million acquire from the sale in addition to an $18.4 million reimbursement of working bills from Foxconn.
Lordstown and Foxconn introduced in November plans for the Taiwan-based firm to buy the ability and an settlement for the corporate to producer the struggling startup’s Endurance pickup. The deal was introduced as Lordstown was in want of money, delaying manufacturing of its pickup and engulfed in controversy after the resignation of its CEO and founder Steve Burns earlier within the yr.
Lordstown, which went public in October 2020, was amongst a gaggle of electrical car startups to go public by way of particular objective acquisition corporations, or SPACs, for the reason that starting of the last decade. The offers have been initially hailed by Wall Road and traders however controversies, product delays, lack of financing and govt shakeups have despatched shares of many of the corporations plummeting.
Lordstown was initially anticipated to be among the many first, if not the primary, firm to launch an electrical pickup truck, with preliminary estimates as early as 2020. Nevertheless, General Motors, Rivian Automotive and Ford Motor have all beat the corporate to market following inner issues and delays with the Endurance.
Ford’s electrical F-150 is squarely positioned to compete in opposition to the Endurance for the industrial pickup truck market. Ford’s electrical F-150 pickup begins at about $23,000 lower than the Endurance, plus, it carries a first-mover benefit and the backing of a well-funded firm.
