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The acquisition plans of "Fujikang" and "electric car startup Lordstown Motors" have finally ushered in new developments. On May 12, several media reported that Foxconn bought electric car startup Lordstown Motors's car assembly plant in Ohio for $230 million. In addition to the $230 million purchase, Foxconn also paid $465 million worth of investment and loan gift packages for Lodstown cars, according to the Financial Associated Press. As a result, Foxconn spent a total of $695 million (4.7 billion yuan) on Loddtown Motors. In fact, Foxconn had plans to buy the plant as early as November. On Nov. 11, Foxconn disclosed that it had bought the plant for $230 million.

Electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors's car assembly plant in Ohio was originally owned by General Motors. Previously, the factory produced a series of classic models, including the Chevrolet Caprice, Vega, Covalds and so on. With the change of the market environment, the factory has produced only one Cruz model since 2011, and then compact cars have become increasingly unpopular in the American market. There is a problem of overcapacity in the factory. In March 2019, the last Cruz came off the line at the Lodstown factory and announced in May of the same year that it would sell the Lodstown factory to the local new power, Lodstown Motors, and lend the latter $40 million to complete the plant acquisition.

Data show that Lordstown Motors (Lodstown Motor) is a new power car-building brand in the United States, founded in 2018 by Steve Burns, former CEO of American freight truck manufacturer Workhorse (CEO), and headquartered in Lodstown, Ohio. Loddtown Motor acquired GM's Lodstown plant in May 2019, merged with a shell company called DiamondPeak Holdings in October of the same year, and listed on Nasdaq as a special acquisition company (SPAC). At one point, the new power was valued at $1.6 billion. Loddtown Motor has not developed smoothly in the past two years since the outbreak of the epidemic and chip shortage in 2020. Loddtown Motor, which has been burning money for a long time, has spent almost all the cash previously raised through the SPAC merger, and the sale of GM's former plant is seen as an important part of alleviating its financial pressure. After Foxconn's acquisition of the plant, Foxconn will form a joint venture with Lodston Motor, MIH EV Design LLC, with a stake of 45:55, which will develop electric vehicle products based on the open source Mobility-in-Harmony (MIH) platform launched by Foxconn in October.

As for Foxconn, as a well-known technology company of "the largest electronic contract factory in the world", Foxconn was founded in 1988 and became Apple's largest contract manufacturer because of its iPhone production in 2007. as a result, it has become a well-deserved "king of contract manufacturing" in the industry, but its net profit began to shrink after 2017. under this background, Foxconn has to develop diversification. Cross-boundary car building happens to be a more popular cross-boundary project.

Foxconn's entry into the auto industry began in 2005, and then it was reported that Foxconn had contact with Geely Motor, Yulong Motor, Jianghuai Automobile, BAIC and other automakers, but Foxconn did not acknowledge outside rumors and said it had "never started any car-building plan". In 2013, Foxconn became a supplier to BMW, Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and other car companies. In 2016, Foxconn invested in Didi to officially enter the ride-hailing industry. In 2017, Foxconn invested in Ningde era to enter the battery field. In 2018, Foxconn's subsidiary Industrial Fulian listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Foxconn made further progress in building cars. By the end of 2020, Foxconn began to reveal that it would enter electric vehicles and accelerate the layout of electric vehicles. In January 2021, Foxconn Technology Group signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Baiteng Motor and Nanjing Economic and technological Development Zone. The three parties worked together to promote mass production of Baiteng new energy vehicles and said that they would achieve mass production of M-Byte by the first quarter of 2022. However, the Foxconn-Baiteng partnership has been shelved because of the deterioration of Baiteng's financial situation. On October 18 of the same year, Foxconn unveiled three electric vehicles, including the electric buses Model T and SUV Model C, and the Model E, a business luxury car. This is the first time that Foxconn has shown its products to the outside world since it announced the construction of the car. In November, Foxconn spent a lot of money on a former GM plant (the incident mentioned above), when Foxconn said it would buy the plant's land, plant, team and some equipment for $230 million as its first car plant. Earlier this month, Foxconn was also exposed as a contract manufacturer of Apple cars, but at that time Foxconn gave a "no comment" response.

Although Foxconn has no experience in carmaking, Hon Hai Chairman Liu Yangwei has begun to make clear plans for the new energy track at a corporate presentation for investment in the fourth quarter of 2021 held by Hon Hai (parent company of Foxconn) in March. Liu Yangwei, chairman of Hon Hai, said: as one of the main axes of development, Hon Hai will continue to expand its customer base, seek the participation of existing car factories and new car factories, and assist customers in mass production and expansion. It pointed out: "Hon Hai's electric vehicle cooperation has been on schedule, accelerating commercial conversion and mass production, the development of higher-value components and software is the focus of Hon Hai's 2022 EV development. By 2025, Hon Hai aims to have a 5 per cent market share and a vehicle production target of 500000 to 750000 vehicles, of which OEM's revenue contribution is expected to exceed half. " In addition, Liu Yangwei also proposed that Foxconn's electric vehicle-related business camp should reach $35 billion (223 billion yuan) by 2026. For Foxconn, the acquisition of GM's former plant also means further progress in its car-building dream.

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