Lordstown Motors has emerged from bankruptcy with a new name and an almost singular focus: continuing its lawsuit against iPhone maker Foxconn for allegedly “destroying the business of an American startup.”
The company announced late Thursday. regulatory document which has implemented a Chapter 11 restructuring plan that was recently approved by the Delaware bankruptcy court. That makes it one of the first electric vehicle startups to survive the bankruptcy process in some form, albeit extremely diminished. Electric Last Mile Solutions was liquidated in a Chapter 7 proceeding in 2022, while IndiEV Chapter 11 Procedure It is still being developed in California. A decade ago, both Fisker Automotive and Coda were sold to other buyers in their Chapter 11 restructurings.
Now known as Nu Ride Inc., the reconstituted version of Lordstown Motors will also pursue “possible business combinations,” although it did not say what type of mergers it seeks. The company has little left to its name. He sold the former General Motors factory once owned by Foxconn; The assets related to its electric truck were acquired by Lordstown founder Steve Burns.
With the restructuring plan in place, Nu Ride is now led by an entirely new board of directors and slate of executives. It will now trade on over-the-counter markets as “NRDE.”
The newly named company has two federal investigations and other lawsuits it needs to resolve beyond its dispute with Foxconn. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently accused the company of misleading investors about the potential success of its defunct electric pickup truck, forcing Lordstown to set aside $25.5 million to help settle some of the company's ongoing lawsuits. shareholders. That investigation is still active, according to the agency, as is one by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Lordstown Motors sued Foxconn in June 2023 when it initially filed for bankruptcy. He claimed that the Taiwanese conglomerate misled the startup about its plans to collaborate on a line of electric vehicles. The Lordstown lawsuit has been more or less on hold while Chapter 11 proceedings unfold.
Foxconn now operates the factory once owned by Lordstown, and even built a few dozen of the startup's electric vans before they had to be taken off the market. Foxconn's effort to become a contract manufacturer of American electric vehicles has failed to date. Two of its four potential customers (Lordstown and IndiEV) have filed for bankruptcy, while Fisker (which is reportedly weighing its own bankruptcy filing) has recently distanced itself from the conglomerate, saying it would prefer to partner with an automaker. established. The only thing Foxconn has been making at its Ohio factory are tractors for California-based Monarch.
