Potential sale of shuttered GM plant in doubt

The fate of a shuttered General Motors factory in Ohio remains very much in the air, even after a tweet from President Donald Trump claimed the potential sale of a factory he has shown great interest in saving.

That's because the buyer is a fledgling electric vehicle manufacturer who has never gained a profit, only has about 100 employees and warned this year that it may not have enough money to stay in business.

What the potential deal signals is the probable end of half a century of automotive production for GM at the factory near Youngstown and continued uncertainty for a fierce Rust Belt community that has seen many empty promises.

GM confirmed this week that it is negotiating the sale of its massive fitting in Lordstown, where production ended in March as part of a major reorganization for the automaker.

Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group intends to make a commercial electric pickup truck on site. The only production facility is in Union City, Indiana, where it has built around 400 trucks.

It has started delivering UPS with electric vehicles, and is one of five companies competing to land a $ 6 billion contract to make a new generation of

But there are big questions about financial support.

Workhorse has raised most of the money for research and development, with limited sales, and lost $ 36.5 million last year. It announced in its last quarterly report that it did not have enough money to pay for its business during the first half of this year, and needed additional funding to remain afloat.

But the listed company, whose stock increased after Trump's tweet, also said it believes it can raise enough money to continue.

Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to have the support of one of the competitors, Rivian, who just has a $ 500 million investment from Ford to develop a new electric car.

The plan Workhorse posted this week is that it should be a minority investor in a new unit that will own the Lordstown facility. No other investor has been announced and it is still looking for partners.

GM spokesman Jim Cain said it was too early to tell if the automaker would be one of them. GM sees the start as a way to preserve the Lordstown facility, and believes that Workhorse has the technology and product to build there, Cain said.

Tesla Inc. and other startup companies were small businesses at the same time, he pointed out. 1[ads1]9659002] If Workhorse begins to produce it, it will probably start with a few hundred workers, far less than the 4,500 people GM worked just two years ago, before it began to cut shifts.

Democratic rep. Tim Ryan, whose district includes the plant, said that a sale will not help GM workers in the area who need to transfer if they want to keep their retirement and benefits with the car manufacturer.

Any long-term job growth for the region will be years away, he said, but "it's better than the plant is empty."

Trump has repeatedly urged GM to find another owner or reopen facility, located in an area of ​​state that will be important to him in the 2020 election and where he has promised a revival of production j Note.

Some GM workers in Lordstown who have endured hope that the car manufacturer would revive the factory with a new vehicle to build it, was skeptical of the new plans.

Since the area's steelworks began to close in the 1970s, investors have entered the Mahoning Valley and promised to build factories that would create blimps, commuter aircraft, and a new version of Studebaker, said Tim O & # 39; Hara, who worked at the Lordstown plant for 41 years.

"Nothing ever came of it," he said. "We've been through this in the valley. We've had these false promises. We're so used to it, at least we should be."

Hara, the vice president of United Auto Workers' premises at the facility, noted that some sales still need to be negotiated during upcoming contract negotiations with the association, which still wants GM to remain and keep the facility open.

"We tell our members to hope for the best, prepare for the worst," he said.

Republican governor Mike DeWine, who has asked GM to sell the plant if it does not intend to keep it in time, it was too early to celebrate because many details must

"If things are not in place for this to happen," said the governor, "this would be very cruel to the workers and the people of Lordstown and Mahoning Valley."

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio; Krisher reported from Detroit.