Lordstown Motors buys factory for manufacturing Endurance pickup trucks

US electric automaker Lordstown Motors (LMC)  has acquired the GM manufacturing complex in Lordstown, Ohio in a move to start production of the Endurance pickup truck, an all-electric pickup truck purpose-built for fleets.

Production of the electric pickup truck is slated to begin in late 2020 at the complex, said the Ohio-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of light-duty fleet vehicles.

The former GM Lordstown, Ohio factory will also double up as the new headquarters for Lordstown Motors.

Steve Burns – Lordstown Motors CEO said: “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.”

Lordstown Motors buys factory for manufacturing Endurance pickup trucks. Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay.

Spanning 6.2 million square-foot, the Lordstown factory is said to be a fully-equipped automotive plant that has manufactured more than 16 million vehicles so far.

Rich Schmidt – Chief Production Officer at Lordstown Motors said: “The quality and precision of the production robotics and equipment in the Lordstown facility is evident.

“Our team feels this is a factor to help us hit the ground running in building the Endurance™ pickup truck.”

Lordstown Motors said that it will be licensing components of Workhorse Group’s electric drive technology in building the Endurance electric pickup truck in order to make a faster launch to the market. The agreement with Workhorse also gives the scope to transfer 6,000 existing pre-orders won by Workhorse for its W-15 prototype to Lordstown Motors.

The Endurance pickup truck is claimed to be the first production vehicle that uses a four-wheel-drive hub-motor system, a design that cuts down on the number of moving parts.

According to Lordstown Motors, fleet managers benefit with lower maintenance, less breakdowns, and less cost. The manufacturer said that the overall benefit is an attractive total cost of ownership (TCO), which converts into a substantially lower lifetime operational cost compared to conventional pickup trucks.

The Endurance pickup truck will have features like an onboard power export, which enables fleet workers to operate power tools at the job site without requiring a portable generator or leaving the vehicle running.

The new electric pickup truck is lightweight, with all-wheel drive and a low center of gravity, while sustaining ground clearance.