Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors will pause the factory line building its Endurance pickup because of “performance and quality issues.”
Lordstown Issues Recall
It announced a recall affecting “19 vehicles that are either in the hands of customers or being used internally.”
When automakers issue a recall, they file paperwork with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) explaining the safety risk and the proposed remedy. NHTSA hasn’t published news about an Endurance recall. Lordstown says the recall concerns “a specific electrical connection issue that could result in a loss of propulsion while driving.”
Recently Started Deliveries
The company began delivering its Endurance truck to early customers last November. The Endurance is the first production vehicle to use hub motors – separate motors in each wheel. Hub motors allow the truck to vary the speed of each wheel to negotiate over obstacles. Rival Rivian builds a version of its R1T with a separate motor for each wheel, but they aren’t located inside the wheels like the Endurance motors.
The truck was a finalist for the North American Truck of the Year award but lost to another electric pickup, the Ford F-150 Lightning.
But Lordstown has stopped production. The company says it is “diligently working with suppliers on the root cause analysis of each issue” and possible solutions. Those, Lordstown says, could “include part design modifications, retrofits,” or software updates.
The Automotive Business Is Among the Hardest to Enter
Launching a new automaker is one of the most difficult challenges in modern business. The up-front investment is enormous. Success takes time. And startups often burn through immense amounts of money before ever turning a profit.
Tesla, the most recent success story, took 19 years to post its first profitable quarter before becoming America’s best-selling luxury automaker early last year. Far more startups flare out than ever reach that level.
Lordstown has a leg up on rivals like Canoo or Alpha Motors in successfully building trucks and delivering them to customers. But a production pause is a significant blow to its prospects. At press time, the company’s stock price had fallen more than 15% since the announcement.
Lordstown did not indicate when the factory would restart. The company says, “we remain committed to doing the right thing by our customers and to resolve potential issues before resuming production.”
Disclosure: Cox Automotive, Kelley Blue Book’s parent company, made a $350 million equity investment in Rivian in 2019.
