LORDSTOWN — Foxconn now owns the 6.2 million-square-foot auto assembly plant in Lordstown, where the Taiwan-based global electronics assembler and technology giant intends to mass produce electric vehicles.
Foxconn affiliate Cleveland-based Foxconn EV Property Development LLC acquired the buildings and the 599 acres on which they sit for $78.5 million from electric-vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp., according to the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office.
It was May 11 when Lordstown Motors announced it had finalized a $230 million asset-purchase agreement with Foxconn for the massive facility where General Motors had churned out vehicles for more than 50 years.
GM closed the plant in March 2019. In December of that year, Lordstown Motors purchased the plant from GM for $20 million.
The transaction, recorded May 20, is for four pieces of land: 386.6 acres at 2300 Hallock Young Road; 47.9 acres at 1829 Hallock Young Road; another 13.5 acres on Hallock Young Road; and 152 acres on Ellsworth Bailey Road.
The deal struck between Lordstown Motors and Foxconn calls for Foxconn to become the contract manufacturer for Lordstown Motors’ first vehicle, the all-battery Endurance pickup truck. It also includes the critical joint-venture agreement to co-develop future electric vehicles.
Under the joint-venture agreement, Foxconn has committed $100 million to the new company, MIH EV Design LLC, including a $45 million loan to Lordstown Motors to support its initial capital commitment.
Foxconn will own 55 percent of the company and Lordstown Motors, 45 percent. Vehicles developed by MIH EV Design would be built for North America at the Lordstown plant and at other contract-manufacturing locations around the world.
The factory sale included Foxconn reimbursing Lordstown Motors $27 million for operating and expansion costs, taking the full price tag to about $260 million. Foxconn also agreed to a $50 million equity investment in Lordstown Motors, which happened last year.
Limited production of the Endurance is targeted for the third quarter with some commercial deliveries expected in the fourth quarter. Yet the company announced May 9 it needed $150 million in new capital this year to launch the truck.
The factory also will be the production hub for the PEAR, the second electric-vehicle offering from California-based electric-vehicle manufacturer Fisker Inc. through a manufacturing agreement with Foxconn.
After the initial ramp-up period, it’s expected at least 250,000 PEAR units would be built per year at the facility.
The company is planning for three versions of the auto they predict will allow them to sell 1 million PEARs sometime in 2027. Not all, however, would be made in Lordstown. The company is contemplating production in China, Europe and India.
