EV Maker Lordstown Claims 40,000 Pre-Orders For New Electric Truck 

Days after Nikola founder Trevor Milton unexpectedly resigned as Executive Chairman, following an investigation by the SEC and DOJ into a highly critical short-seller report, another EV company, this time, Lordstown Motors Corp., claims it has secured tens of thousands of preorders for its electric vehicle ahead of a potential Nasdaq listing in October. 

First of all, who has ever heard of Lordstown? And second, EV companies like Tesla and Nikola have developed reputations for exaggerating – sometimes widely – numbers and expectations of preorders – so much so that analyst should approach any EV company with trepidation. 

Nevertheless, Lordstown released a statement Wednesday, quoted by local Ohio newspaper The Business Journal, announcing it has recived approximately 40,000 preorders for the Endurance pickup truck. It may not sound like much, but that’s about $2 billion in potential revenue, the company said in its announcement.

… And it only costs $100 to reserve an Endurance. 

And just like Tesla and Nikola, there has to be a wonderful story about massive pre-orders… These EV companies are in game to manufacture a dream, and by doing so, allows them to raise funds via secondary markets. 

So Lordstown’s announcement is timely because the EV company recently entered into a business agreement with shell company, DiamondPeak Holdings Corp., which is set to close in October. If all goes well, Lordstown will be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker “RIDE” in the near term. 

As of Wednesday, DiamondPeak ended the session around $24.4 per share. The stock is up nearly 200% since the start of August, from $11 to $31 in 35 sessions. In the last two sessions, the stock has dipped into a bear market, down 23%. 

As for delivery date of the Endurance, CEO Steve Burns told The Verge, in late July, delivery will start in early 2021… 

Maybe the folks at Hindenburg Research should do some due diligence around Lordstown.