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Bloomberg
Lordstown Motors Corp, the electric-truck startup formed specifically to save a shuttered Ohio car factory, has acquired the highly politicised plant from General Motors Co.
The acquisition that the two companies announced ends an era that began when GM opened the complex in 1966. The factory’s fate was largely sealed when the United Auto Workers union was unable to convince GM to keep it in the fold as part of a new labour contact ratified late last month.
Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. Workhorse Group Inc, which is affiliated with Lordstown Motors but doesn’t share anyownership,soared 27% to close at $3.13 in New York trading.
The plant has been a political football since GM announced a year ago that it wouldn’t allocate future product to Lordstown.
The decision was an immediate liability for US President Donald Trump, who a year earlier went so far as to discourage rally-goers from selling their homes because of all the jobs he would bring back to the area. Democrats seized on the development as a symbol of unfulfilled promises made to voters in a key battleground state.
US president Donald Trump was so eager to endorse GM’s discussions to sell the Lordstown plant that he preempted the announcement of the talks in May by the largest US automaker and Workhorse.
But both companies are on shaky financial footing, with Workhorse totalling just $6,000 of revenue during its latest quarter.