Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ:RIDE) on Thursday reaffirmed plans to begin commercial production of its first vehicle this quarter and roll out the first customer deliveries by the end of the year.
Lordstown CEO Edward Hightower said production of the Endurance pickup will be slow and largely reliant on capital availability. He said the company only expects to produce about 500 vehicles through early 2023 — an extremely slow production ramp-up by industry standards.
CFO Adam Kroll said the company will need to raise “substantially more capital” to produce the initial 500 Endurance electric pickups.
Lordstown, alongside its second-quarter results, said its cash balance of $236 million at the end of the first half of the year was above internal expectations and extends the cash-strapped company’s runway — but isn’t enough to fully fund production.
The company reported its first quarterly operating profit of $61.3 million for the period ended June 30, despite not delivering any vehicles, on gains related to the sale of its Ohio factory to contract manufacturer Foxconn.
The profit included a $101.7-million gain from the sale as well as an $18.4 million reimbursement of operating expenses from Foxconn.
Lordstown’s stock was up 36 cents, or 12.4% in early trading Thursday to $3.29 a share. The stock is down about 15% this year and off 63% from its 52-week high of $8.93 a share. The company’s market cap is roughly $600 million.
