Lordstown Motors to unveil Endurance in Detroit

Company hopes to drum up fleet orders at annual auto show

YOUNGSTOWN -- Lordstown Motors Corp. is testing an alpha model of the all-electric Endurance pickup truck it plans to unveil publicly in June at the North American International Auto Show.

The company believes the reveal in Detroit will drive orders for the vehicle designed for use by fleets, and remains intent on starting production of the truck later this year at the former General Motors assembly plant in Lordstown it purchased in November.

"We have a production skateboard (chassis) right now finished, an alpha we are testing. We have a donor body, and we're going to be putting a new production body on it and we are going to launch it at the Detroit auto show," said John LaFleur, company chief operating officer, Wednesday in Youngstown. "That will be the mark where I think all of the preorders will start flipping to purchase orders. If I was a fleet, I would say show it to me and if I like it, here is the purchase order, and that will happen. We are confident that will happen."

The company is sitting on about 6,000 preorders in a transfer agreement with Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group for its commercial pickup truck. The agreement is part of a partnership between the companies that lets Lordstown Motors use Workhorse technology to produce the Endurance in exchange for Workhorse holding 10 percent of Lordstown Motors.

Workhorse was founded by the same man who founded Lordstown Motors, Steve Burns.

The company has another few hundred preorders for the Endurance through its website since late November when it opened ordering to the public. It also was announced then the truck, with a $52,000 price point before tax credits, would be offered on the passenger market.

Lordstown Motors, however, is targeting fleet use. An independent report from Ernst and Young suggests the potential volume for fleet use is three times greater than Lordstown Motors believed and there is very little reaction to purchasing from an electric vehicle company, "let alone a startup company."

"Over 70 percent of the people they talked to -- 700 plus fleets -- came back (saying) they will buy. Now let's get the PO (production order), that's the tough part. So we have to transition preorders that we have 6,000 of right now to production orders. I think we'll have well over 20,000 POs prior to us starting production," LaFleur said.

"We are not your typical startup EV trying to sell everybody on smoke and mirrors. We are building the truck. When we show it, we know we can make it. That is our approach. Some people question, do they really know how to market themselves and all that. This is all strategic. We do it because we only want to talk about what we know we're going to achieve."

Burns wasn't at the event at Stambaugh Auditorium for facility suppliers to learn more about Lordstown Motors, but in Washington, D.C., where he met with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan on Tuesday to discuss the company's pending application to the U.S. Department of Energy for a $200 million loan to retool the plant to make electric vehicles.

Burns reportedly met with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette on Monday and had additional talks with Energy Department officials in the loan program office Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Ryan confirmed last week Lordstown Motors would ask for $200 million, and believes most would be spent on capital investments to repurpose the plant. Burns confirmed to Reuters the company is pursuing the $200 million.

Ryan called his meeting with Burns "incredibly productive."

"I'm heartened that Lordstown Motors will be providing high wages to Ohio workers, and I will do everything I can to help them secure an ATVM loan and keep moving this project forward," said Ryan, who is leading a bipartisan effort of U.S. senators and representatives urging the department approve the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan.

The program already has loaned $8 billion for projects the website touts has supported production of more than 4 million advanced technology vehicles and 35,000 direct jobs in eight states.

It loaned Ford $5.9 billion in 2009, $465 million to Tesla Motors in 2010 and $1.45 billion to Nissan North America the same year. Nissan and Tesla have repaid the loans.

Burns told Reuters, "We think we are worthy of government help. We don't want a handout -- we want a loan. It's just going to be more jobs faster if we get it. We are viable without it."

Burns also told the news service he hopes to repay GM's $40 million loan the automaker made to Lordstown Motors to acquire the plant "in a few weeks."

GM and Lordstown Motors have terms on an open-end mortgage agreement that lets Lordstown Motors borrow up to $40 million from GM. The sale was structured that way to let Lordstown Motors take possession and work toward the launch of the truck while raising money to operate.