Lordstown Motors reverses, says it has no firm truck orders

This Thursday, June 25, 2020, file photo shows the electric Endurance pickup at Lordstown Motors Corp., in Lordstown, Ohio. Startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors says it’s still on track to begin production this fall despite a bumpy past week. Company executives in Ohio said Tuesday, June 15, 2021, that they have enough orders and cash on hand to keep operating through next May. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Struggling electric truck maker Lordstown Motors said Thursday it doesn't have any firm orders for its vehicles, just days after its president said the company had enough to maintain production through 2022.

Questions have been mounting about whether Lordstown Motors has enough money to stay in business and about its previous claims that it already had presold 100,000 of its Endurance pickup trucks.

Lordstown CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez resigned on Monday, the same day the company acknowledged one potential buyer that committed to a large number of preorders doesn’t appear to have the resources to complete that transaction, and other preorders appear too vague or weak to be relied on for purchases.

A day later, company President Rich Schmidt said during a meeting of the Automotive Press Association of Detroit that Lordstown was on track to begin making the Endurance in the fall and had enough binding orders to keep going through 2022.

But the company on Thursday said the statements about the orders were not accurate.

“Although these vehicle purchase agreements provide us with a significant indicator of demand for the Endurance, these agreements do not represent binding purchase orders or other firm purchase commitments,” the company said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The price for shares of the company, which have been cut in half this year, slid at the opening bell Thursday before recovering.

Last week, the company warned it might not be in business next year because of difficulty with securing funding to begin full production at its former General Motors plant in Ohio near Youngstown. In a quarterly regulatory filing, the company said the $587 million it had on hand as of March 31 wasn’t enough to begin full commercial production.

Angela Strand, the company’s new chairwoman, said on Tuesday that the upheaval from the past week won’t interrupt the company’s day-to-day operations or its plans to start making the Endurance.