• In the middle of a turbulent period for the brand, new CEO Angela Strand said that deliveries of the electric vehicle will begin this fall.
  • Despite its recent difficulties, Lordstown said this week that it will begin manufacturing its first vehicle in Ohio in September.
  • One of the issues resulted in the suspension of creator and CEO Steve Burns, who, according to the New York Times, resigned because he made false representations regarding the truck’s pre-orders.
  • Rich Schmidt, president of Lordstown Motors, presented the company’s accomplishments in planning for production, which included reconditioning stamping presses, paint spray testing, and having the battery and hub motor lines up and running.

Lordstown “addressed” Lordstown director Rich Schmidt’s statements that the business had “solid orders” for its Endurance production in 2021 and 2022 in an Official statement posted Thursday. Schmidt did not tell the truth, according to the clarification: “These car purchase agreements are not binding purchase orders or any solid purchase commitments, despite the fact that they offer us with a strong signal of demand for the Endurance… We’ve done very little marketing thus far, and we don’t have any binding purchase orders or obligations from clients.”

Lordstown Motors has had a difficult couple weeks, but the company’s new executives are sticking to their principles, claiming that manufacturing of the Endurance electric pickup truck will begin in September 2021.

Lordstown reported this week that its founder and CEO, Steve Burns, had resigned. he praised Burns for his “passion and devotion to the firm” in a statement but did not elaborate on why he resigned. According to the New York Times, Lordstown’s board of directors conducted an internal inquiry that discovered “problems questioning the veracity of some statements regarding the company’s pre-orders.”

We were unable to get Burns for comment on his resignation, but whatever the reason, the management replaced him with an inside executive. Angela Strand, Lordstown Motors’ lead independent director, has been named executive chairwoman and will supervise the transition until a new, permanent CEO is recruited. Julio Rodriguez, Lordstown’s chief financial officer, resigned last week and was replaced by temporary CFO Becky Roof.
Strand said the business is on schedule to start producing cars this autumn and deliver them to buyers in the first quarter of 2022, addressing at a virtual Automotive Press Association (APA) event Tuesday.

“Our goal to begin limited production in late September remains unchanged. It’s a fresh day in Lordstown, and our day-to-day activities haven’t been disrupted and won’t be disrupted “she stated
During the APA event, Lordstown Motors president Rich Schmidt echoed Strand’s commitment, discussing how the startup automaker’s work converting an old General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio (hence the name) into a facility capable of producing a variety of electric vehicles start in November 2019 and is still ongoing.

Schmidt stated that several of the manufacturing locations are currently ready to build automobiles in small quantities. He also mentioned that the body shop that made the company’s beta prototypes has been redesigned for production and that the paint shop began spray programming last week. According to Schmidt, Lordstown is now finalizing its battery and hub motor lines, which each measure about 400,000 square feet. In July, the hub motor line should be functional. The stamping presses are also being refurbished in Lordstown, and the retooling process is roughly 85 percent complete, he said.

Lordstown also replied this week to a statement from financial research company Hindenburg Research, which said that expecting Lordstown to begin production of the Endurance this autumn was “unreasonable.” A Special Committee of Lordstown’s Board of Directors released a statement calling the report “in significant ways inaccurate and misleading.” “Its challenges to the viability of Lordstown Motors’ innovation and timeline to launch of production are not accurate,” according to the company announcement, though Lordstown admitted that Hindenburg “identified concerns regarding the accuracy of certain statements regarding the Company’s pre-orders.”

Schmidt wouldn’t reveal how many orders Lordstown had for the Endurance at the APA event, other than to reiterate that, “We have enough orders for 2021 and 2022 manufacturing. We have firm orders in place for the next two years.”

Next week, Lordstown will conduct “Lordstown Week,” a media event aimed at reinforcing the company’s progress in pushing the Endurance into the hands of customers.