Lordstown Motors emerges from bankruptcy with a new name to fight Foxconn

Lordstown Motors has emerged from bankruptcy with a new name and an almost singular goal: to continue its lawsuit against iPhone maker Foxconn for allegedly “destroying corporate America.”

The company announced late Thursday regulatory submission that it has implemented a Chapter 11 reorganization plan that was recently approved by the Delaware Bankruptcy court. That makes it one of the first EV systems to survive the bankruptcy process in some form, albeit a much smaller one. Electric Last Mile Solutions was liquidated in Chapter 7 pending in 2022, while IndiEV’s Chapter 11 continues still played in California. A decade ago, Fisker Automotive and Coda sold themselves to other buyers in their Chapter 11 filings.

It is now known as Nu Ride Inc., the restructured version of Lordstown Motors will also pursue a “possible business combination,” though it did not say what types of mergers it is seeking. The company has little left to its name. It sold the former General Motors factory it owned to Foxconn; assets related to his electric pickup truck were seized by Lordstown founder Steve Burns.

With the restructuring plan in place, Nu Ride is now led by an entirely new board of directors and executive line-up. It will now trade on the over-the-counter market as “NRDE.”

The newly named company has two federal investigations and other charges it needs to resolve beyond its relationship with Foxconn. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently sued the company for misleading investors about the potential success of its dead electric pickup truck, forcing Lordstown to set aside $25.5 million to help settle some ongoing shareholder lawsuits. The investigation is still ongoing, according to the agency, as is the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Lordstown Motors sued Foxconn in June 2023 when it filed for bankruptcy protection. It claimed that the Taiwanese conglomerate initially misrepresented its plans to cooperate on a range of electric vehicles. The Lordstown case is more or less on hold while the Chapter 11 case continues.

Foxconn now operates the Lordstown factory it once owned, and even built a few dozen electric trucks before the recall. Foxconn’s efforts to become a U.S. EV contract manufacturer have so far been largely unsuccessful. Two of its four potential customers – Lordstown and IndiEV – filed for bankruptcy, while Fisker (which is reportedly weighing its own bankruptcy filing) has recently distanced itself from the meeting, saying it would rather partner with the automaker. The only thing Foxconn has been making at its Ohio factory are California Monarch tractors.