Lordstown Motors, a maker of electric trucks, is filing for bankruptcy

Lordstown Motors, the troubled electric pickup truck company that bought a closed General Motors plant in Ohio, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday.

Once praised by former President Donald J. Trump for preserving manufacturing jobs, the company struggled with a series of developmental setbacks and frequent management changes, never managing to make or sell many trucks.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing was prompted by a dispute with a major investor, Foxconn, the contract manufacturer based in Taiwan. Foxconn said Lordstown violated their investment agreement because the stock had fallen below $1 per share. Lordstown said Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit alleging Foxconn failed to honor its commitment to invest more money in the company.

Lordstown was founded in 2018 by Steve Burns, the former CEO of another electric vehicle company called Workhorse Group. The company purchased a former GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio, where the Chevrolet Cruze sedan had been produced. Mr. Trump promoted the deal on Twitter even before an agreement was signed.

Lordstown had hoped to produce an innovative truck that used electric motors on each of its wheel hubs, but ran into problems turning his idea into a vehicle that could be mass-produced. Even at its peak, the company employed a fraction of the workers who once produced cars for GM in Lordstown, between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

In 2021, Lordstown Motors sold its factory to Foxconn, which is best known for assembling Apple’s iPhones on sprawling factory campuses in China.

Lordstown’s shares fell 45 percent on Tuesday morning, down to about $1.50. They had traded at around $400, adjusted for a recent stock split, in early 2021, when investors were incredibly optimistic about the prospects of electric vehicle launches. Lordstown listed its shares on the Nasdaq exchange in October 2020 by merging with a special acquisition company called DiamondPeak Holdings.

This is an evolving story. Check back later for updates.