Lordstown Motors is going public after a merger swells valuation to $1.6 billion
All-electric pickup maker Lordstown Motors announced earlier this week that it was merging with DiamondPeak Holdings Corporation, with the plan to take the resulting merged company public on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “RIDE.”
“The financing that comes from being publicly listed is the last piece we needed as we march towards production in 2021,” says Lordstown CEO and founder, Steve Burns, in a video from the company.
Just how much financing does the merger secure? Lordstown expects the coffers to swell by approximately $675 million. Around $500 million of that comes from fully-committed private investment in public equity, including a $75 million investment from General Motors. Recall that GM sold its Lordstown, Ohio, plant to the EV startup late last year as part of a large-scale restructuring of the company to better prepare it for the coming EV revolution.
Concurrent with its investment in Lordstown, GM announced in late July that its Ultium Cells LLC Battery Plant was proceeding according to schedule. The batteries are part of a large-scale EV architecture plan announced by the company earlier this year.
The investment announcement boosts Lordstown’s value to a staggering $1.6 billion, ahead of the release of its first vehicle, the all-electric Endurance pickup truck next year. As of late-June, the company had reportedly received 14,000 $1000 pre-orders on the vehicle, which carries a base MSRP of $52,500. The truck is seemingly aimed at large-scale fleet operations, and the motor-in-hub design helps the Endurance claim the equivalent gas efficiency of 75 mpg, along with a 250-mile range. Earlier this year, Lordstown unveiled the production-ready interior of the vehicle, and just last week, this commercial debuted on the company’s YouTube page.
We know that GM is also coming to market with its own EV pickup, the heavily-teased GMC Hummer scheduled to be unveiled later this fall. Lordstown claims it is prepared to deliver the Endurance pickup next year. Those two players join the Rivian R1T, and an all-electric version of the Ford F-150 in the race to produce electron-powered utility to an American market saturated with gas-burning trucks. Those paying close attention will recall that Ford invested heavily in Rivian earlier this year, so it appears that two of the Big Three have now backed their respective horses, along with producing EV trucks of their own.
Who will be first, and who will be best, remains to be seen. Grab the popcorn and a charging port; this is gonna get interesting.
