Lordstown Motors’ founder and former CEO is shopping for the bankrupt EV maker’s belongings, based on a September 29 submitting with the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee (SEC).

Lordstown’s “promoting entities” stated within the submitting that Steve Burns made the one certified bid for what’s left of Lordstown, which filed for chapter in late June. Burns based the corporate in 2019 and introduced it via a particular goal acquisition firm (SPAC) merger in 2020, FreightWaves explains in a timeline of Lordstown’s brief existence.

The previous CEO of Workhorse, Burns arrange Lordstown to accumulate the idled Common Motors manufacturing facility in its namesake Ohio city. GM had constructed automobiles on the web site since 1966 however shut the manufacturing facility down in March 2019. Lordstown’s said purpose was to make use of the plant to fabricate electrical vehicles, aimed primarily at industrial fleets.

Underneath Burns’ management, Lordstown promised an electrical van and electrical RV, with future personal-use SUVs—all of which have been deferred.

Lordstown Endurance

Lordstown at one level confirmed 100,000 orders for its electrical pickup truck, the Endurance. Then about six months later, in June 2021, Burns was ousted as CEO amid a scandal over inflated order numbers. This started with an inside investigation, but in addition concerned an SEC inquiry.

Burns had began promoting Lordstown refill till the chapter, FreightWaves notes. After the SPAC merger with DiamondPeak Acquisition Corp. in October 2020, he reportedly owned about 25% of the corporate’s inventory. He reportedly made greater than $60 million from share gross sales, together with an enormous sale days earlier than Lordstown filed for Chapter 11 chapter in June.

It is unclear what Burns can be buying if the deal is accomplished. Foxconn bought the Ohio manufacturing facility from Lordstown for $230 million in Might 2022. The Taiwanese firm was then contracted to fabricate the Endurance. In February it paused manufacturing amid a recall, and it seems it by no means really restarted.

Lordstown Endurance

Only a handful of pickups have been constructed—Lordstown by no means raised sufficient capital for the laborious tooling wanted for true mass manufacturing—and Lordstown subsequently filed a lawsuit towards Foxconn claiming the producer breached the phrases of their deal.

The Endurance was itself a brand new spin on an extended-range electrical pickup that Burns had been getting ready when he led Workhorse, known as the W-15. So maybe, now that Lordstown has zero manufacturing footprint, Burns will attempt one thing prefer it once more, below a brand new identify, with a contract producer.