Lordstown Motors, the manufacturer of electric pickup trucks, has temporarily paused production and customer deliveries due to “performance and quality issues” with some components in its Endurance truck. To address the problem, the company is partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on a voluntary recall to fix a connection issue that may cut motor output while driving. The recall will impact 19 vehicles that are already on the road, some of which were in use by Lordstown.
Although the freeze is minor compared to issues at competitors like Tesla, who have recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles, Lordstown’s recall is proportionately significant. The company has only delivered the first trucks from its initial 500-unit wave in November and expects to sell 3,000 Endurance models through 2023.
Lordstown Motors faces additional challenges as well. In late 2021, GM sold its stake in the company, leaving Lordstown with limited funding. The startup then sold its plant to manufacturing heavyweight Foxconn to raise funds, which deepened their relationship and resulted in two Foxconn-chosen seats on Lordstown’s board of directors. With pressure to turn things around, setbacks like this recall only add to the company’s struggles.
Lordstown Motors has not provided an estimated timeline for when production will resume but claims to be making progress on component and subsystem issues. More information is expected to be released during the company’s next earnings call on March 6th.
