Lordstown Motors' rough road continues; CEO and CFO are out
The top two executives at Lordstown Motors have resigned as problems at the Ohio electric truck startup mount. CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez stepped down, the company said Monday, sending shares already down 40% this year tumbling more than 17%. The departures were announced on the same day that Lordstown responded to a scathing March report from the short-selling firm Hindenburg Research which questioned the number of preorders the company claimed to have received for its marquee Endurance vehicle.
news.yahoo.comStartup Lordstown Motors warns it may not stay in business
Startup commercial electric vehicle maker Lordstown Motors says it may not be in business a year from now as it tries to secure funding to start full production of an electric pickup truck. In a quarterly regulatory filing Tuesday, Lordstown said the $587 million it had on hand as of March 31 isn't enough to start commercial production and begin selling the full-size pickup, called the Endurance. Shares of the company, which is set up in a now-closed General Motors plant east of Cleveland, fell 16.2% to close Tuesday at $11.22.
news.yahoo.comLordstown Motors shares fall as much as 12.5% after confirming SEC inquiry
Shares of electric vehicle start-up Lordstown Motors tumbled by as much as 12.5% during intraday trading Thursday after the company confirmed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has requested information regarding claims by a short seller that it misled investors. Hindenburg Research accused Lordstown in a report last week of using "fake" orders to raise capital for its first product, an all-electric pickup truck called the Endurance. The short seller claimed the pickup was years away from production, however Lordstown maintains it's on track to start producing the vehicle in September. Morgan Stanley in an investor note Thursday afternoon cut its price target for Lordstown from $18 a share to $12. Lordstown CEO Steve Burns declined to comment on the SEC inquiry Thursday morning on CNBC.
cnbc.comLordstown Motors shares jump on early demand and robust hiring to build EV pickup
Lordstown Motors Corp Chief Executive Steve Burns poses with a prototype of the electric vehicle start-up's Endurance pickup truck, which it will begin building in the second half of 2021, at the company's plant in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S. June 25, 2020. Electric vehicle start-up Lordstown Motors said that early reservations for its all-electric Endurance pickup were strong and that it plans to double hiring by the end of this year, sending shares of the company up by as much as 13% Monday morning. The company said it has received about 50,000 nonbinding production reservations for the vehicle, which is tailored for commercial buyers rather than individual owners. Shares of Lordstown calmed down a bit but still held on to most of those gains, rising by about 8% to $19.30 a share in morning trading. Lordstown's stock has been volatile since going public – ranging from $12.80 to $21.75 per share since Oct.26.
cnbc.comTrump proposes cutting Amtrak funding, boosting infrastructure spending
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House budget released on Monday proposed cutting funding for the U.S. government-owned passenger rail carrier Amtrak while calling for a significant hike in infrastructure spending and killing a clean energy auto loan program. REUTERS/David ShepardsonThe proposal would cut Amtrak funds in fiscal 2021 by more than 50% over 2020 levels. Amtrak reported a loss of $29.8 million in the year compared with a loss of $170.6 million in the prior fiscal year. The Trump budget calls for $810 billion in highway, transit, safety and other surface transportation funds and an additional $190 billion for other projects. The budget also again proposes killing the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit that phases out for each automaker after they sell 200,000 EVs.
feeds.reuters.comTrump proposes cutting Amtrak funding, boosting money for infrastructure
REUTERS/David ShepardsonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House budget released on Monday proposed cutting funding for passenger rail carrier Amtrak, while calling for a significant boost in infrastructure spending. The proposal would cut Amtrak funds by more than 50% over 2020 levels. It could cut funds to the congested northeast corridor from $700 million to $325 million and cut long-distance train funds from $1.3 billion to $611 million and then phase out support for long-distance trains. Trump has proposed similar cuts in prior budgets and been rejected, and Democrats are not likely to go along. The budget also again proposes killing the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit that phases out for automakers after 200,000 EVs are sold.
feeds.reuters.comGM sells Ohio plant to electric pickup truck startup
Lordstown Motors intends to start building electric pickup trucks there late next year. But Lordstown Motors will face growing competition from other electric pickup trucks on the horizon. GM has announced plans to start building an electric pickup in another plant it had previously planned to close -- the Hamtramck Assembly plant in Detroit -- although it has yet to set a date. Changing consumer preferences for SUVs instead of sedans doomed the Cruze, and with it GM's need for the Lordstown plant. But the labor deal that ended the recent strike at GM did not include any new GM product to revive the Lordstown plant as they had hoped.
GM sells shuttered Ohio plant to EV truck start-up
(Reuters) - General Motors Co confirmed on Thursday it has sold its shuttered Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio to a start-up that has an ambitious plan to begin building electric pickup trucks by the end of 2020. FILE PHOTO: A mural is seen on the side of General Motors' shuttered Lordstown Assembly plant during the United Auto Workers (UAW) national strike in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S. September 20, 2019. The fate of the northeastern Ohio plant has become a lighting rod in the 2020 presidential election after GM announced in November 2018 its planned closure, drawing condemnation from U.S. President Donald Trump and many U.S. lawmakers. The fate of the 6.2-million-square-foot Lordstown plant has been a major focus for Trump, who in June 2017 advised workers in nearby Youngstown, Ohio, that factory jobs were not leaving. GM last month said it plans an electric battery cell plant near the Lordstown complex that could eventually employ 1,000 people.
feeds.reuters.com