Electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors names new CEO following Foxconn deal

Signage outside Lordstown Motors Corp. headquarters in Lordstown, Ohio, on Saturday, Might 15, 2021.

Dustin Franz | Bloomberg | Getty Illustrations or photos

Electrical automobile startup Lordstown Motors explained Tuesday that its president, Edward Hightower, will be its new CEO, efficient right away. He succeeds Daniel Ninivaggi, who moves into a strategic position as the company’s government chairman.

Hightower, a veteran engineer with earlier experience at Ford Motor and General Motors, will carry on to lead the firm’s joint venture with Taiwanese contract maker Foxconn, which acquired Lordstown’s Ohio manufacturing facility for $230 million in May possibly. The joint enterprise ideas to style and design and produce EVs, which will be made by Foxconn.

“With over 30 a long time of automotive encounter and acquiring produced considerable contributions to the Endurance launch planning and Foxconn transactions, Edward is the excellent man or woman to guide the corporation and start our merchandise improvement initiatives with Foxconn,” Ninivaggi claimed in a assertion. 

Ninivaggi joined Lordstown in August 2021 just after the company’s founder, Steve Burns, was forced out amid allegations that he experienced misled investors. Ninivaggi is credited with main an overhaul of Lordstown’s output program for the Endurance, an electric powered pickup truck, and with engineering the sale of its manufacturing unit to Foxconn in exchange for a great deal-needed funds. He will focus on “corporate technique, strategic partnerships, and cash boosting” in his new purpose, the company reported.

Lordstown’s shares were being up extra than 3% in premarket trading right after the announcement.