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Lord­s­town Mo­tors Corp. head­quar­ters in Lord­s­town, Ohio.
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Editorial: Lordstown’s new hope

BLOOMBERG/​Dustin Franz

Editorial: Lordstown’s new hope

There is cause for hope springing from the ashes of an abandoned General Motors factory and a contract electronics manufacturer’s tarnished reputation.

Lordstown Motors is attempting to turn GM’s old Chevy Cruz manufacturing plant into the production site of their new electric pickup truck the Endurance.

The first units are supposed to be ready by the end of the year, but production has been painstakingly slow, and without sales, Lordstown Motors is all spend and no earn.

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Taiwan-based electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn, best known for assembly of Apple iPhones, has stepped in with a $170 million stock purchase for just more than 18 percent of Lordstown Motors.

It’s not the first time Foxconn has provided life support for Lordstown Motors.   In May, Foxconn bought the Lordstown factory for $230 million.

The electronics manufacturer wants to add contract production of electric vehicles to its business line and the Lordstown partnership is a platform to execute on that strategy.

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Fortunately, Lordstown and Ohio are in much different position than Wisconsin, where Foxconn unveiled — and then later scaled back — plans to build a $10 billion flat panel-monitor manufacturing plant that would create 13,000 high-wage jobs.

To make that deal, Wisconsin committed $3 billion in development incentives, authorized a direct tap of Lake Michigan water, and used eminent domain power to bulldoze homes for the Foxconn factory.

The deal was so big, President Donald Trump presided over the groundbreaking in 2017. The $10 billion investment was cut by 94 percent and the 13,000 jobs turned out to be 1,400.

Wisconsin was able to cut back the incentive package, but the homes lost, the infrastructure created, and the access to Lake Michigan water are sunk costs that wouldn’t have been prudent for the downsized deal.

In Lordstown, a hulk of an automotive factory and the infrastructure to support the facility were already in place. Instead of paying Foxconn to participate with development incentives, Foxconn is putting up the money to get Lordstown Motors off the ground.

There’s been no showing that Foxconn acted in bad faith in Wisconsin. Foxconn is showing faith in its recent purchase, and in any case Lordstown has little to lose.

Foxconn’s increase of its ownership share in Lordstown is an exciting development in a region of Ohio that badly needs it.

First Published November 14, 2022, 5:00 a.m.

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Lord­s­town Mo­tors Corp. head­quar­ters in Lord­s­town, Ohio.  (BLOOMBERG/​Dustin Franz)
BLOOMBERG/​Dustin Franz
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