Lordstown Motors rolled out prototypes of its upcoming Endurance electric van on June 21, 2021 as part of its “Lordstown Week” event.
Michael Wayland/CNBC
Lordstown Engines announced on Thursday that it will suspend production and deliveries of its all-electric Endurance pickup to address performance and quality issues with certain components.
The electric vehicle startup, which has partnered with Foxconn to produce vehicles at an Ohio plant, said the team is working with suppliers on analyzing the root causes of each problem and potential solutions. , which “in some cases may include part design changes, retrofits and software updates.”
The automaker will also voluntarily recall 19 Endurance pickups to address a “specific electrical connection issue that could result in loss of propulsion while driving.” Lordstown said it was working with vendors to implement a solution that the company said would fix the problem.
Shares of Lordstown, which went public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2020, fell 11% to $1.09 on Thursday. That’s a far cry from the stock’s all-time high of $31.80 per share in September 2020.
Lordstown spokeswoman Colleen Robar said the company was not aware of any injuries associated with the recalled vehicles. She declined to disclose the total number of vehicles the company has produced and delivered to customers since production began in September.
As of Jan. 3, the company had produced 31 vehicles for sale and delivered six to customers, Lordstown said in a regulatory filing last month.
Robar confirmed the issues didn’t lead to any fires, such as a battery issue earlier this month with a Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup.
“While our experienced team has made significant progress in resolving the underlying vehicle component and subsystem issues affecting the Endurance build schedule, we remain committed to doing the right thing for our customers. and resolve potential issues before resuming production and shipments to customers,” Lordstown CEO Edward Hightower said in a statement.
The company declined to predict how long production will be idle at the Ohio plant, which Lordstown bought from General Motors in 2019.
The company plans to provide a more detailed update on the status of these issues in its next earnings call on March 6.
Recall and production issues add to a long list of problems at Lordstown since the company went public nearly 2½ years ago. It was plagued with management, production and execution issues.
Automakers routinely have issues and recalls associated with vehicles, but issues with electric vehicles, particularly batteries, are of particular concern and interest as automakers invest billions of dollars in vehicles.
