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Lordstown Assembly

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Coordinates: 41°8′48.42″N 80°52′36.63″W / 41.1467833°N 80.8768417°W / 41.1467833; -80.8768417
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Lordstown Assembly
Entrance to Lordstown Assembly from Ohio State Route 45
Map
Built1964–1966
LocationLordstown, Ohio
IndustryAutomotive (1966–2019); data center equipment (2025–present)
Owners

The Lordstown Assembly, also known as the Lordstown Complex, is a factory building and manufacturing plant in Lordstown, Ohio, United States, near Youngstown, Ohio.

The plant operated as a General Motors automobile factory from 1966 to 2019, comprising three facilities: Vehicle Assembly, Metal Center, and Paint Shop. It produced automobiles for Chevrolet and other GM divisions.

After its closure in 2019, the facility was sold to Lordstown Motors, then to Foxconn in 2022. In 2025, Foxconn sold the property to Crescent Dune LLC, reported in press coverage to be affiliated with SoftBank, while continuing to operate at the site under a long-term lease.[1] Foxconn and SoftBank later announced plans to use the facility to manufacture data center equipment for the Stargate LLC artificial intelligence infrastructure project.[2]

History

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Early years

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GM representatives purchased farmland for the plant in 1955, citing its location along the Ohio Turnpike as advantageous.[3] GM publicly announced plans on March 19, 1956; construction began in 1964, and the first vehicle, a Chevrolet Impala, rolled off the line on April 28, 1966.

The plant's initial products were Chevrolet's full-size lineup (Caprice, Impala, Bel Air, Biscayne) and the first-generation Pontiac Firebird. Both model lines moved to other plants by 1971, when Lordstown added conversion van production and began building the Chevrolet Vega.

Lordstown Strike of 1972

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Chevrolet Vega being assembled at Lordstown, 1972

The plant was the site of the Lordstown Strike of 1972, a 22-day work stoppage against GM management that cost the company US$150 million.[4][5] The strike resulted in vehicles coming off the line with torn upholstery and other defects, and drew national attention to labor conditions on high-speed assembly lines. Later workers who similarly disrupted production at other facilities were described as exhibiting "Lordstown Syndrome".[6] Peter Drucker attributed the walkout to workers believing they could design their jobs more effectively than GM's industrial engineers.[7]

The strike affected the quality of the Vega, which was later named one of the worst cars of all time.[better source needed] Quality control subsequently improved, and GM awarded Lordstown the J-body compact lineup for 1982.

Later years

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Following the collapse of the regional steel industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lordstown Assembly became the largest industrial employer in the Mahoning Valley. Conversion van production ended in 1994 when the Chevrolet Express moved to Wentzville Assembly, and the plant focused exclusively on compact cars, later building the Chevrolet Cavalier, Chevrolet Cobalt, and Chevrolet Cruze.

In 2014, GM installed a 2.2 MW solar array covering six and a half acres with 8,500 panels.[8]

Closure

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The final Chevrolet Cruze built at the GM Lordstown assembly plant

In November 2018, GM announced that the plant would be unallocated in 2019 amid declining demand for compact cars.[9] Production ended March 6, 2019, with the final vehicle being a white 2019 Chevrolet Cruze LS.[10] GM idled the plant that day.[4]

Post-GM ownership

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Lordstown Motors era

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A Lordstown Endurance electric pickup at the factory in June 2020

On November 7, 2019, GM sold the plant to Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicle startup 10% owned by Workhorse Group, for approximately $20 million.[11][12] In December 2019, GM agreed to loan Lordstown Motors up to $40 million to support the Endurance truck launch.[13]

In May 2022, Lordstown Motors completed the sale of the facility to Foxconn for $230 million as part of a broader manufacturing partnership.[14]

Commercial production of the Lordstown Endurance began September 29, 2022. The company reported producing 31 trucks before pausing production in February 2023 and issuing a recall affecting 19 vehicles for an electrical connection issue; six trucks were delivered to customers.[15] Lordstown Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 27, 2023 (Case No. 23-10831, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware).[16] In September 2023, LAS Capital LLC, formed by founder Steve Burns and former CFO Julio Rodriguez, purchased the Endurance intellectual property and related assets for $10 million, the only qualifying bid in the bankruptcy auction.[17]

Foxconn era

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After acquiring the facility, Foxconn announced plans to manufacture the Fisker PEAR electric vehicle at the plant in a proposed agreement with Fisker Inc.[18] The agreement was not finalized; Fisker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2024 (Case No. 24-11390, District of Delaware), and no PEAR vehicles were produced at Lordstown.[19]

In August 2022, Foxconn signed a contract manufacturing agreement with Zimeno Inc. (dba Monarch Tractor) to produce the MK-V all-electric agricultural tractor at the plant.[20] The first MK-V tractors came off the line in April 2023.[21]

SoftBank and Stargate

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In August 2025, Foxconn announced the sale of the Lordstown property and equipment to Crescent Dune LLC for $375 million while continuing to operate at the site under a long-term lease.[1] Press reports later identified Crescent Dune LLC as an affiliate of SoftBank.[22] Reuters and other outlets reported that Foxconn and SoftBank planned to manufacture data center equipment at the facility for Project Stargate, a U.S. AI infrastructure initiative involving SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle.[2] Reuters, citing The Information, reported that SoftBank could invest up to $3 billion to retool the facility for modular data center production.[23]

TechCrunch reported that Monarch Tractor production at the site would end following the sale.[24]

Vehicles produced

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Model years Product Units produced
1966–1970 Chevrolet Caprice, Impala, Bel Air, Biscayne 453,086
1967–1969 Pontiac Firebird 220,230
1971–1977 Chevrolet Vega 1,966,157
1971–1992 Chevrolet Van, GMC Vandura 2,372,015
1975–1977 Pontiac Astre 132,046
1977–1980 Chevrolet Monza, Pontiac Sunbird 893,734
1978–1980 Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Starfire 101,907
1982–1997 Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac J2000/Sunbird/Sunfire 4,588,372
1996–2000 Toyota Cavalier 36,228
1998–2005 Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunfire
2005–2010 Chevrolet Cobalt
2011–2019 Chevrolet Cruze
2022–2023 Lordstown Endurance 31
2023–2025 Monarch Tractor MK-V

References

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  1. ^ a b "SoftBank buys Foxconn's Ohio plant to jumpstart Stargate AI push". Crain's Cleveland Business. August 2025. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  2. ^ a b "Foxconn, SoftBank to jointly operate data center equipment factory at Lordstown". Manufacturing Dive. 2025. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  3. ^ Graziosi, Graig (March 23, 2019). "Remembering when GM came to Lordstown". The Vindicator. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Jaffe, Sarah (June 24, 2019). "The Road Not Taken". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  5. ^ "The 1972 Lordstown Strike". Walter P. Reuther Library. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  6. ^ Bunkley, Nick (January 5, 2010). "A Once-Defiant U.A.W. Local Now Focuses on G.M.'s Success". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Drucker, Peter (1973). Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, and Practices. Harper & Row. pp. 277–278.
  8. ^ Gauntner, Mike (September 23, 2017). "GM buying wind power for Lordstown plant". 21 WFMJ. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  9. ^ "General Motors Accelerates Transformation" (Press release). November 26, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  10. ^ "Last Cruze to roll off GM Lordstown production line on display in Boardman". WKBN. March 8, 2019.
  11. ^ "GM sells shuttered Ohio plant to EV truck start-up". Reuters. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  12. ^ "GM sells Lordstown complex to electric-vehicle start-up Lordstown Motors". The Detroit News. November 7, 2019.
  13. ^ "GM to Loan Lordstown Motors $40 Million". InsideEVs. December 9, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  14. ^ "Lordstown closes $230M sale of Ohio factory to Foxconn". CNBC. May 11, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  15. ^ "Lordstown Anticipates Endurance Production Ends Soon". InsideEVs. February 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  16. ^ "Lordstown Motors Declares Bankruptcy". Kelley Blue Book. June 27, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  17. ^ "Lordstown Motors Founder Buys Company Assets for $10M". InsideEVs. September 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  18. ^ "Foxconn to build Fisker PEAR EV at former Lordstown Motors plant in Ohio". TechCrunch. May 12, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  19. ^ "Fisker, company behind PEAR EV being manufactured in Lordstown, files for bankruptcy". WFMJ. 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  20. ^ Doll, Scooter (August 9, 2022). "Foxconn to manufacture electric tractors for Monarch at newly acquired Lordstown facility". Electrek. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  21. ^ "Foxconn's first Monarch electric tractors come off assembly lines in Lordstown". Electrek. April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  22. ^ "SoftBank acquires Foxconn's Ohio facility to build Stargate AI servers". Tom's Hardware. August 2025. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  23. ^ "SoftBank, Foxconn plan to jointly run AI server factory in Ohio". Reuters. August 7, 2025. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  24. ^ "Monarch tractors won't be built by Foxconn after Ohio factory sale". TechCrunch. August 13, 2025. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
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