Taiwan’s Foxconn has deal to buy former GM plant in Ohio

Oct 1, 2021
Foxconn Lordstown Motors

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The settlement stands to present Taiwan-based Foxconn, finest recognized for making Apple iPhones, an entry into the rising electrical car market, a transfer it has been for months

Foxconn Expertise Group, the world’s largest electronics maker, has a deal to purchase an enormous auto meeting plant in Ohio from startup electrical truck maker Lordstown Motors, the businesses introduced on September 30.

The settlement stands to present Taiwan-based Foxconn, finest recognized for making Apple iPhones, an entry into the rising electrical car market, a transfer it has been for months.

It additionally brings much-needed funding to struggling Lordstown Motors, which has been below rising scrutiny over its lack of orders and mentioned final month that it couldn’t assure that it’s going to final by way of the 12 months.

The 2 firms introduced a nonbinding settlement to barter a deal below which Lordstown would promote the previous Basic Motors plant in Ohio close to Youngstown, excluding some belongings, for $230 million.

Foxconn can even purchase about $50 million of Lordstown Motors’ inventory, which rose greater than 8% within the regular-session buying and selling on September 30 however remains to be down 60% for the 12 months. It rose one other 7% after hours.

Foxconn in March mentioned it was contemplating making electrical autos in both Mexico or at its extremely anticipated Wisconsin plant, which was first introduced in 2017 and has since been scaled again.

Firm Chairman Younger Liu mentioned on the time that Foxconn needs to take 10% of the market share of electrical autos by making total autos or parts.

Then in Could, Foxconn and Stellantis, the world’s 4th-largest automaker fashioned by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Cars and PSA Peugeot, introduced they’re growing a collectively operated automotive provider specializing in know-how to make autos extra related.

The settlement with Lordstown provides Foxconn a sprawling manufacturing web site the place GM constructed automobiles for greater than 50 years earlier than closing the plant in 2019. At its peak, the manufacturing facility was dwelling to roughly 10,000 staff.

Lordstown promised to revive the plant after buying it in 2019 and had deliberate to start manufacturing of its marquee Endurance pickup truck in September. Its traders embrace GM, which took a 5% stake.

However Lordstown has struggled to lift cash, gone by way of administration shakeups and confronted rising scrutiny from federal regulators.

The fledging automaker’s high two executives stepped down in June amid doubts over the variety of orders positioned for the Endurance. In July, the corporate acknowledged receiving two subpoenas from federal regulators and likewise that prosecutors in New York have opened an investigation into the corporate.

The Securities and Trade Fee requested in a pair of subpoenas for paperwork associated to the corporate’s merger with DiamondPeak, a particular function acquisition firm.

After the corporate acknowledged that it had no agency orders for its autos, it mentioned that the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York was “investigating these issues.”


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