Lordstown Motors Corp., a provider of electric light-duty trucks focused on the commercial fleet market, and global technology company Hon Hai Technology Group have agreed to work jointly on Lordstown Motors’ electric vehicle (EV) programs in Lordstown Motors’ 6.2 million square foot production and assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
The agreement will allow Lordstown Motors to leverage the technology and manufacturing expertise of Foxconn, as Lordstown Motors pursues the production of EVs at its Ohio facility. The goal of the partnership is to present both Lordstown Motors and Foxconn with increased market opportunities in scalable EV production in North America.
Lordstown Motors and Foxconn will use commercially reasonable best efforts to negotiate a definitive agreement pursuant to which Foxconn would purchase the Lordstown facility, excluding Lordstown Motors’ hub motor assembly line, battery module and packing line assets, certain intellectual property rights and other excluded assets, for $230 million.
Both entities would also negotiate a contract manufacturing agreement, which would be a condition to closing of the facility purchase, whereby Foxconn would manufacture Lordstown Motors’ Endurance full-size pickup truck at its Lordstown facility. Lordstown Motors would also agree to provide Foxconn with certain rights with respect to future vehicle programs.
The parties have agreed to explore licensing arrangements for additional pickup truck programs.
“We have high expectations through this partnership that we will be able to successfully integrate our resources with Lordstown Motors,” says Young Liu, chairman of Hon Hai Technology Group. “In addition to achieving the goal of moving ahead our timeline to establish electric vehicle production capacity in North America, it also reflects Foxconn’s flexibility in providing design and production services for different EV customers.”
“This mutually beneficial relationship is an important milestone for Foxconn’s EV business and our transformation strategy,” adds Liu. “I believe that the innovative design of the Endurance pickup truck, with its unique hub motors, delivers an advantageous user experience and has manufacturing efficiencies. It will undoubtedly thrive under our partnership and business model.”
In addition, this facility would serve as a speed to market asset that would also support Foxconn’s partner and customer, Fisker Inc.
“We are excited about the prospect of joining forces with a world-class smart manufacturer like Foxconn and believe the relationship would provide operational, technology and supply chain benefits to our company and accelerate overall scaled vehicle production and increase employment in the Lordstown facility,” states Daniel Ninivaggi, CEO of Lordstown Motors Corp.
“The partnership would allow Lordstown Motors to take advantage of Foxconn’s extensive manufacturing expertise and cost-efficient supply chain, while freeing up Lordstown Motors to focus on bringing the Endurance to market, developing service offerings for our fleet customers and designing and developing innovative new vehicle models,” continues Ninivaggi.
Beyond certain customary provisions, the agreement is non-binding and subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements. The parties on the same date have entered into a subscription agreement, under which Foxconn will purchase approximately $50 million of Lordstown Motors’ common stock directly from Lordstown Motors at a price of $6.8983 per share, the average daily volume adjusted price over the past 15 trading days prior to the execution of the agreement in principle. Foxconn has agreed to retain these shares for a specified period.