Hon Hai Technology Group, better known as "Foxconn," announced Friday morning that an agreement has been reached with Ohio's Lordstown Motors Corp. The deal marks the start of negotiations for Foxconn to purchase the manufacturing facility for $230 million.
Lordstown Motors' hub assembly lines, packing lines, battery modules and property rights are not included in the sale.
Lordstown Motors bought the former General Motors plant in Lordstown in late 2019 with plans to mass produce electric pickup trucks. Foxconn reportedly has electric vehicle plans of their own.
According to Foxconn's press release, the goal of the new deal is to present both companies with "increased market opportunities in scalable electric vehicle production in North America."
Production for Lordstown Motors will be kept in the building. The manufacturer will now focus on bringing its Endurance full-size electric pick-up truck to market.
However, a condition of the facility purchase is a contract manufacturing agreement between the two companies, which allows Foxconn to manufacture the Endurance truck at the assembly plant. No manufacturing agreement has been reached yet.
Lordstown Motors' Chief Executive Officer Daniel Nanivaggi says the partnership allows them 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."
Foxconn will also be buying $50 million of common stock from Lordstown Motors. If the conditions are met, Lordstown Motors would enter into a long-term lease for a portion of the existing building, where its Ohio-based employees would work.
The Lordstown facility was closed by GM in 2019, after announcing in November of 2018 that they were cutting 14,700 jobs in North America. Nanivaggi says the goal of the deal is to "increase employment in the Lordstown facility."
