Tag: lawmakers

Lordstown Motors Pursuing $200 Million U.S. Retooling Loan, will Show EV Truck at Detroit Auto Show

January 28, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: A sign welcomes visitors to the General Motors Lordstown Complex assembly plant in Warren, Ohio

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Electric pickup truck start-up Lordstown Motors is pursuing a $200 million loan from a U.S. Energy Department program to retool a former General Motors <GM> factory in northeast Ohio, Chief Executive Steve Burns told Reuters.

Burns met with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette on Monday for about an hour and the company was holding additional talks with officials on Tuesday from the Energy Department’s Loan Program Office.

“We think we are worthy of government help. We don’t want a handout – we want a loan,” Burns told Reuters in an interview. “It’s just going to be more jobs faster if we get it. We are viable without it.”

Burns disclosed the company plans to unveil a drivable version of its electric truck at the Detroit auto show in June. It hopes to begin production by year-end.

The Energy Department declined comment.

Burns said the company hopes to receive funding from the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program that in 2009 awarded loans to Ford Motor Co <F>, Tesla Inc <TSLA> and Nissan Motor Co <NSANY> to retool factories, but has not issued loans since 2011. Nissan and Tesla previously repaid their loans.

The fate of the sprawling plant became a political lightning rod after GM announced its planned closure in November 2018, drawing condemnation from U.S. President Donald Trump and many U.S. lawmakers.

A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers wrote Brouillette last week offering “strong support” for the loan, saying northeast Ohio was dealt a “severe blow” by the plant closing.

Lordstown Motors Corp, which is 10% owned by Workhorse Group Inc <WKHS>, bought the plant and equipment for $20 million as part of its ambitious plan to begin building electric pickup trucks by the end of 2020.

“It’s cool to bring something back to life,” Burns said.

The company is working to raise additional funding and is in advanced talks with a large strategic investor, Burns said.

GM last year agreed to loan Lordstown Motors $40 million to acquire and retool the plant. Burns hopes to repay GM’s loan “in a few weeks.”

Burns plans to start crash-testing vehicles in July, hiring about 400 hourly workers in September and to begin production in November or December.

Electric vehicle startup Rivian, backed by Amazon.com Inc <AMZN> and Ford, plans to build an electric pickup truck and companion starting in late 2020. GM plans to build its first electric pickup truck starting in late 2021. Tesla plans to start building its electric Cybertruck in late 2021.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

GM Loans $40 Million to Firm to Acquire, Retool Shuttered Lordstown, Ohio, Factory

December 9, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: The GM logo is seen at the General Motors Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Lansing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – General Motors Co <GM> confirmed on Monday it agreed to loan $40 million to an electric vehicle start-up to facilitate the acquisition of its shuttered Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio.

Lordstown Motors Corp, which is 10% owned by Workhorse Group Inc <WKHS>, bought the plant and equipment for $20 million in November as part of its ambitious plan to begin building electric pickup trucks by the end of 2020.

The loan agreement, which was reported earlier Monday by the Business Journal in Youngstown, was filed in Trumbull County last week.

Lordstown Motors has been working on the engineering of the new truck, “Endurance”, and hired Rich Schmidt, a former director of manufacturing at Tesla Inc, as chief production officer.

“We structured the sales agreement to help support Lordstown Motors’ launch plans for the Endurance pickup,” GM spokesman Jim Cain said, who added it “allows them to take possession of the plant and to cover some operating expenses while they undertake their capital raise.”

GM is not investing in the venture, but Cain said GM financing could rise to $50 million.

The fate of the sprawling northeastern Ohio plant became a political lightning rod after GM announced its planned closure in November 2018, drawing condemnation from U.S. President Donald Trump and many U.S. lawmakers.

Lordstown CEO Steve Burns told Reuters last month he hopes to have pre-production prototypes coming off the assembly line by April and to start production by November 2020 with an initial workforce of 400 hourly workers.

Burns said last month the company hopes to raise more than $300 million, the Business Journal reported. Burns told Reuters it retained Ohio investment bank Brown Gibbons Lang & Co in its capital fundraising effort.

GM and South Korea’s LG Chem <051910.KS> said Thursday they will invest $2.3 billion to build an electric vehicle battery cell joint venture plant in Ohio which will be one of the world’s largest battery facilities.

The plant, to be built near the Lordstown complex, will employ more than 1,100 people, the companies said.

As part of the Lordstown sale, GM has the option to lease land near the assembly plant that it could use for the battery plant.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

GM to Boost Heavy-Duty Pickup Truck Production

June 12, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FLINT, Mich. (Reuters) – General Motors Co president Mark Reuss said on Wednesday that the automaker is investing about $150 million at its Flint Assembly plant in Michigan, to boost production of heavy duty trucks by another 40,000 vehicles a year.

Reuss announced the investment at the Flint truck assembly plant wearing a United Auto Workers pin.

The Detroit automaker announced in February it was adding 1,000 jobs in Flint to build a new generation of heavy-duty pickup trucks.

GM did not say that the latest investment would add more jobs at the plant, but Reuss said there could be opportunities to add workers as the launch of the automaker’s new trucks progresses.

FILE PHOTO: A Chevrolet 2020 heavy-duty pickup truck is seen at the General Motors Flint Assembly Plant in Flint

GM has been under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump and lawmakers of both parties to add jobs in the United States after it said last November it would idle a small car assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and had no new products for three other U.S. manufacturing plants.

The Flint investment will include upgrades to the plant’s conveyors and other new tooling, and will be completed in the first half of 2020. GM has invested more than $1.6 billion in the plant since 2013.

Last month, GM said it would invest $24 million to increase truck production at its assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which makes Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra models.

FILE PHOTO: The frames of Chevrolet 2019 heavy-duty pickup trucks sit on the assembly line in the paint department at General Motors Flint Assembly Plant

Sales of heavy-duty pickups in the United States have grown to more than 600,000 vehicles a year, up more than 20 percent since 2013, according to industry data. Prices for luxury models can easily top $70,000.

GM’s Chevrolet and GMC brands have long trailed Ford Motor Co’s F-series heavy duty trucks in the lucrative segment. The new Chevrolet and GMC heavy duty trucks have been re-engineered to tow heavier trailers, and keep pace in what has become an arms race among the Detroit Three automakers to claim superior torque and towing capability.

(Reporting by Joe White in Detroit and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Nick Zieminski)

FILE PHOTO: A General Motors Co. assembly worker does quality control checks on the paint of Chevrolet 2019 heavy-duty pickup trucks in Flint

VW Plans To Sell Electric Tesla Rival

November 8, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) intends to sell electric cars for less than 20,000 euros (17,437.4 pounds) and protect German jobs by converting three factories to make the Tesla (TSLA.O) rival, a source familiar with the plans said.

VW and other carmakers are struggling to adapt quickly enough to stringent rules introduced after the carmaker was found to have cheated diesel emissions tests, with its chief executive Herbert Diess warning last month that Germany’s auto industry faces extinction.

Plans for VW’s electric car, known as “MEB entry” and with a production volume of 200,000 vehicles, are due to be discussed at a supervisory board meeting on Nov. 16, the source said, adding that it is also looking to roll out 100,000 of the “I.D. Aero”, a mid-sized sedan.

The Wolfsburg-based carmaker, which declined to comment on the plans, is also expected to discuss far-reaching alliances with battery cell manufacturer SK Innovation <096770.KS> and rival Ford (F.N), the source said.

VW’s strategy shift comes as cities start to ban diesel engine vehicles, forcing carmakers to think of new ways to safeguard 600,000 German industrial jobs, of which 436,000 are at car companies and their suppliers.

An electric van, the ID Buzz, is due to be built at VW’s plant in Hannover, where its T6 Van is made, the source said.

To free up production capacity for electric cars in Hannover, VW’s transporter vans could be produced at a Ford (F.N) plant in Turkey, the source added.

EXPLORATORY TALKS

VW and Ford are in “exploratory talks” to develop self-driving and electric vehicles in an alliance meant to save them billions of dollars, Reuters reported last month.

German VW factories in Emden, Zwickau and Hanover, which all build combustion-engined cars, will switch to electric ones in under the plans being considered, the source said.

Carmakers in Germany agreed on Thursday to spend up to 3,000 euros ($3,430) per vehicle to add more efficient exhaust filtering systems to cut diesel emissions, but failed to prevent bans on diesel vehicles by Cologne and Bonn.

EU lawmakers have agreed to seek a 35 percent cut in car emissions by 2030 after a U.N. report called for dramatic steps to slow global warming.

Diess said to cut average fleet emissions of carbon dioxide in Europe by 30 percent by 2030, VW needs to raise its share offully electric vehicles to 30 percent of new car sales.

The shift from combustion engines to electric cars wouldalso cost 14,000 jobs at VW by 2020 as it takes less time to build an electric car than a conventional one and because jobs will shift overseas to battery manufacturers.

In Europe there are about 126 plants making combustionengines, employing 112,000 people. The largest such plant inEurope is VW’s in Kassel.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Editing by Edward Taylor and Alexander Smith)

Image from newsroom.vw.com

Lordstown Motors Pursuing $200 Million U.S. Retooling Loan, will Show EV Truck at Detroit Auto Show

GM Loans $40 Million to Firm to Acquire, Retool Shuttered Lordstown, Ohio, Factory

GM to Boost Heavy-Duty Pickup Truck Production

VW Plans To Sell Electric Tesla Rival

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