Lordstown Motors’ troubles didn’t end just because it makes electric trucks. The fledgling brand is pausing production and customer deliveries to help address “performance and quality issues” with some components on its Endurance truck. Consequently, it is partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on a voluntary recall to fix a connection issue that could reduce engine power while driving.
The recall will affect 19 vehicles already on the road, some of which were in use in Lordstown. The company does not offer an estimate for when production will resume, but says it is making “significant progress” on component and subsystem issues that are holding up manufacturing. More details are expected to come when the company makes its next earnings call on the morning of March 6.
The freeze pales in comparison to the problems at rivals like Tesla, which has recalled hundreds of thousands of cars (although often just because of software glitches). However, Lordstown hasn’t made many trucks so far: It only delivered the first trucks of its initial wave of 500 units in November, and said last year it only expected to sell 3,000 Endurance models through 2023. The stoppage and recall is proportionately huge. .
Lordstown doesn’t have much room to breathe either. GM sold its stake at the end of 2021, just months after Lordstown warned it didn’t have enough money to build its flagship truck. The startup then raised funds by selling its plant to manufacturing heavyweight Foxconn. He deepened the relationship in November in exchange for two Foxconn-picked seats on the board of directors. There’s pressure on Lordstown to turn things around, and setbacks like this don’t help.
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