The Fall of Lordstown Motors and Rise of LandX Motors: Former Founder Launches New EV Company
“I believed then, and I believe even more today, in what we built at Lordstown. That’s why I bought back the assets and rehired most of the engineering team.”
– Steve Burns, founder of LandX Motors and former founder of Lordstown Motors
The electric vehicle industry has seen its fair share of ups and downs in recent years, and the latest twist comes from the ousted founder of bankrupt EV startup Lordstown Motors. In a surprising move, Steve Burns has launched a new company called LandX Motors, which prominently features the same electric pickup truck that was once promised to beat industry giants Tesla, Ford, and General Motors to the market.
After buying most of the remaining assets from his former startup during Lordstown’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, Burns is ready to embark on a new journey with LandX Motors. On the company’s sleek website, he boldly declares that they will be “charting the future of mobility,” with plans to build a whole lineup of vehicles on the platform that was originally designed for the Endurance pickup truck. While the company doesn’t explicitly refer to the trucks as “Endurance,” a video on the website still shows the recognizable Lordstown badge on the EVs.
According to sources close to the company, LandX Motors is more focused on the underlying platform, software, and engineering behind the Endurance truck rather than the truck itself. However, with the former Lordstown trucks taking center stage on the website and promotional video, the true extent of this plan remains unclear.
One major concern that hasn’t been addressed on the website is how Burns plans to overcome some of the biggest obstacles that ultimately led to Lordstown Motors’ downfall. Notably, the cost to build the Endurance was significantly higher than its $60,000 retail price, and the company never disclosed where or how they planned to manufacture these trucks. When reached for comment, a LandX Motors spokesperson declined to provide any further information or answer any questions.
This isn’t the first time that Burns has started a new electric vehicle company after leaving a struggling EV startup. In 2019, he founded Lordstown Motors after parting ways with another struggling company, Workhorse. He struck a deal with Workhorse to license the designs for a pickup truck project that eventually became the Endurance.
After acquiring a closed GM factory in Lordstown, Ohio, and taking Lordstown Motors public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in 2020, the company faced numerous challenges. By early 2021, it was under federal investigation for misleading investors about the number of orders secured for the Endurance during the merger process. As a result, Burns and the then-chief financial officer Julio Rodriguez resigned after an internal investigation confirmed that they had indeed made false statements.
The startup continued to struggle and eventually sold its factory to iPhone-maker Foxconn. The Taiwanese electronics giant began producing Endurance trucks in late 2022, but they were quickly recalled, resulting in a falling out between the two companies. This led Lordstown Motors to file for bankruptcy protection in June 2023, with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuing $45 million in fines for “violations of federal securities laws.”
Despite all of this turmoil, Burns managed to make tens of millions of dollars by selling Lordstown stock. In late 2020, he purchased back the company’s assets for around $10 million through a holding company called LAS Capital, which also has investments in three other startups.
In a surprising twist, LandX Motors has become a reunion not just for the Endurance truck, but for Lordstown Motors as well. Out of the 16 employees listed on LinkedIn, 13 were former employees of Lordstown Motors. In addition, Duane Hughes, who replaced Burns at Workhorse in 2019 (and was later replaced himself in 2021), is listed on the paperwork filed with the state of Michigan. Julio Rodriguez is also now the chief financial officer of LAS Capital.
Despite the challenges that have followed him, Burns remains confident in his vision and the potential of what they built at Lordstown Motors. With the new focus on LandX Motors and rehiring of most of the engineering team, it seems that he is determined to learn from the past and create a successful future for the electric vehicle industry.
