Hon Hai Technology Group, the Taiwanese company that has agreed to buy Lordstown Motors' plant near Youngstown, Ohio, and has a large facility in southeast Wisconsin, introduced its own first electric vehicle models on Monday.
Better known as Foxconn, the company introduced its Model C recreational vehicle, Model E sedan and Model T electric bus during its livestreamed Hon Hai Tech Day 2021 event, the company said in a press release.
The event was held on the birthday of Foxconn founder Terry Gou, who believes "the adoption of electric vehicles would inevitably be a global trend by the simple fact that it has become the world's largest and most expensive smart electronic device," the company said.
Electric vehicles are a new line of business for Foxconn, which has been mostly a contract electronics manufacturer and one of Apple's first production partners. The company has a large manufacturing facility in Mount Pleasant that Wisconsin officials hope could serve as an electric vehicle production site for Foxconn.
The Luxgen and CMC brands of Yulon Motor Group, Taiwan's largest automaker, will be the first partners to adopt the product platform created by Foxtron, Yulon's joint venture with Foxconn, said Lilian Chen, CEO of Yulon Motor, in Foxconn's release.
Chen believes Foxtron will play a key role in transforming the automobile industry, leading the advancement of the automobile production value chain in Taiwan, she said.
In April, Foxconn drastically scaled back a planned $10 billion factory in Wisconsin, confirming its retreat from a project that former President Donald Trump once called "the eighth wonder of the world," according to Reuters.
Lordstown Motors, the cash-strapped developer of electric vehicles for the commercial fleet market, struck a tentative agreement to sell its plant to and co-manufacture its first model with Foxconn on Sept. 30.
The deal, under which Foxconn would buy Lordstown Motors stock and warrants to buy future shares — could free up about $300 million in cash for the Lordstown automaker.
The two companies propose working side-by-side in Lordstown Motors' 6.2-million-square-foot assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio — a former General Motors auto assembly plant — to launch the local company's first model, the Endeavor electric pickup truck, and potentially work together on its future models.
Despite the uncertainty over how Foxconn would deploy its assets in Wisconsin beyond current production of data infrastructure products, the company did say when it agreed to the tentative purchase of the Lordstown factory that Mount Pleasant could still play a role in manufacturing electric vehicles, includes Foxconn's partnership with California EV startup Fisker Inc.
"While initial electric vehicle production takes place in Lordstown, Foxconn’s assets in Wisconsin will continue to serve as a potential location for additional investment for Foxconn’s electric vehicle growth in the United States and continue to be the location for data infrastructure hardware and Information and Communication Technology production," Foxconn said at the time.
