GM in talks to sell Lordstown to Workhorse for EV pickups while adding jobs elsewhere

When  in November announced a Thanos snap's worth of vehicle cuts, plant idles and layoffs, there were a lot of unanswered questions. This week, GM seeks to provide at least some closure with news of a potential sale and the addition of jobs in an area that was affected by The Decimation.

General Motors announced on Wednesday that it is in talks to sell its Lordstown Complex in Ohio. GM is currently discussing the idea with Workhorse Group, a company that has supplied green vehicles to UPS and hopes to offer even more electrified work vehicles in the future. But the complex wouldn't be sold directly to Workhorse, per se -- instead, Workhorse's founder is leading an independent entity that would purchase the facility, with Workhorse commanding a minority interest in said business entity.

So, what'll be built there? According to Steve Burns, Workhorse's founder, it'll be new, electric and a truck: "The first vehicle we would plan to build if we were to purchase the Lordstown Complex would be a commercial electric pickup, blending Workhorse's technology with Lordstown's manufacturing expertise," Burns said in a statement. GM's statement says the facility could start being converted to produce Workhorse vehicles as soon as all parties come to an agreement, which has not been finalized as of this writing.

In 2018, Workhorse and UPS announced that the manufacturer would supply UPS with 50 plug-in hybrid delivery vans. Workhorse has also unveiled the W-15 electric pickup, which it brought to CES 2018, toting a gasoline range extender that aims to minimize charging downtime on the job. It's also unveiled the N-Gen, a last-mile electric delivery van that packs an optional delivery drone.

At the same time, GM said it was investing approximately $700 million in its other Ohio manufacturing facilities, which the automaker said should create about 450 new manufacturing jobs. The DMAX facility in Moraine will start building more diesel engines for next-gen heavy-duty pickups, the Toledo Transmission plant will boost production of GM's 10-speed automatic transmission and its Parma Metal Center will increase stamped-part production. The automaker noted that hourly employees at unallocated plants (like Lordstown) can request a transfer to one of these new jobs, and that more than 1,350 employees have already taken transfers to other plants with union representation.

Check out the aggressive W-15 electric pickup truck at CES 2018

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