Lordstown Motors says it still has $220 million in cash as it grapples with production issues and an EV pivot

Lordstown Motors said Monday that it still had more than $220 million in cash at the end of 2022, despite ongoing challenges that halted production of its Endurance electric pickup after just six were delivered.

Shares were down about 4% in mid-morning trading on Monday following the report.

Lordstown began deliveries of its first EV, the Endurance pickup truck, in November. Through the end of February, it had built about 40 trucks and delivered six to customers. But the company said on Feb. 23 that it had halted Endurance production to address performance and quality issues, and that it recalled 19 of the trucks to repair a faulty electrical connection that could stop the motors abruptly while driving.

As of Dec. 31, Lordstown had $221.7 million in cash and short-term investments on hand.

Here are the key numbers from Lordstown’s fourth-quarter earnings report:

• Loss per share: 45 cents, versus a loss of 42 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2021.
• Revenue: About $194,000. Lordstown had no revenue in the year-ago period.

The company’s net loss widened to $102.3 million from $81.2 million a year earlier. Lordstown delivered three Endurance pickups to customers during the fourth quarter.

The Ohio-based startup is beginning a pivot to a new electric vehicle program in collaboration with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn, which bought Lordstown’s plant and invested in the startup last year in a deal that could eventually be worth up to $170 million if all milestones are hit.

Lordstown said Foxconn has so far invested $52 million, of which $30 million is earmarked for a new EV platform, which will incorporate components and engineering developed by the Mobility in Harmony Consortium (MIH), a Foxconn-led effort to develop an open architecture for electric vehicles.

Lordstown said that the next platform and vehicle program are “key” to its long-term strategy.

“Our asset-light business model and collaboration with the Foxconn EV ecosystem, including MIH, will provide the opportunity for Lordstown Motors to create winning EVs that are tailored to the needs of customers that use them for various work applications, while gaining the cost benefits of scale,” said CEO Edward Hightower in a statement.