Done deal: Ohio company aims to build electric work trucks at former GM plantDone deal: Ohio company aims to build electric work trucks at former GM plant

General Motors has officially sold its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly facility—for an undisclosed amount—to a company that will build electric pickups. 
They won’t have anything to do with GM’s upcoming electric pickups, however. Lordstown Motors wants to use the facility as its headquarters and as the production location for the Endurance, its own electric pickup aimed at commercial and fleet customers. 
Final Chevrolet Cruze built at GM Lordstown plant
The Lordstown GM facility was building Chevrolet Cruze sedans up until this March. 
GM issued a media statement on the sale: “GM is committed to future investment and job growth in Ohio and we believe LMC’s plan to launch the Endurance electric pickup has the potential to create a significant number of jobs and help the Lordstown area grow into a manufacturing hub for electrification.”
Workhorse W-15
“We are committed to the people of Lordstown, we will locate our headquarters in the Lordstown plant, and we plan to build the Endurance pickup truck utilizing experienced workers who helped produce millions of vehicles in this very same plant,” said Steve Burns, the CEO of the new company, in a release.
The complex covers 6.2 million square-foot, the company emphasized, and it has produced over 16 million vehicles to date.
The Lordstown Motors project essentially supersedes a project that had already been well on its way to production—for the Workhorse W15, a range-extended all-wheel-drive electric pickup that provides about 80 miles of electric-only range, followed by a BMW 1.5-liter inline-3 range extender. Workhorse owns 10 percent of Lordstown Motors and will license its electric-drive tech to the new company. 
Workhorse was already Ohio-based but had its assembly facility in Indiana. AMP Electric Vehicles bought Workhorse, a commercial chassis builder, in 2015, and found its present focus toward fleet vehicles—including electric delivery vans and the W-15, for which it claims about 6,000 pre-orders. 
Workhorse W-15 extended-range electric pickup truck
Drivable prototype versions of the Workhorse W-15 were brought out to fleet shows, and even CES, prior to the introduction of the Rivian R1T or a confirmation from Ford and GM on electric-pickup projects. Workhorse will transfer its pre-orders over to Lordstown Motors.
The new entity has already been moving toward production—potentially in the later half of next year. In September Lordstown Motors hired Tesla’s former director of manufacturing operations, Rich Schmidt—who was at Tesla when it ramped up production of Model S and Model S—to be Lordstown Motors’ chief production officer.

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