The former founder of insolvent EV startup Lordstown Motors has created LandX Motors, which prominently displays the electric pickup truck he originally boasted would beat Tesla, Ford, and General Motors to market.
Steve Burns, a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” obtained most of his old startup’s remaining assets late last year as part of Lordstown’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, including many electric pickup trucks. He believes LandX Motors will map “the future of mobility,” and he will construct a variety of automobiles on the Endurance platform on a new website. LandX Motors doesn’t call the trucks Endurance, but a website video shows Lordstown-badged EV trucks.
A corporate source told Eltrys that the endurance vehicle is less important than the platform, software, and engineers. The old Lordstown trucks star in the company’s website and video, but it’s unclear how established this strategy is. 
The website doesn’t explain how Burns would tackle Lordstown Motors’ greatest issues. Importantly, Lordstown Motors officials stated in the months before bankruptcy that the Endurance cost much more than $60,000 retail. The corporation does not specify where or how it will produce the vehicles. After receiving an email, a LandX Motors official declined to comment.
Burns has founded another electric car firm with links to an old one. He launched Lordstown Motors in 2019 after quitting Workhorse, another failing EV business. He licensed the Endurance pickup truck design from that business.
He bought a defunct GM facility in Lordstown, Ohio, and merged Lordstown Motors with a special-purpose acquisition firm in 2020 to go public.
Lordstown Motors was under federal investigation in early 2021 for deceiving investors about endurance orders during the merger process. Burns and then-chief financial officer Julio Rodriguez resigned after the company’s internal investigation found deceptive claims.
The startup failed and sold the factory to Foxconn. In late 2022, the Taiwanese electronics firm began constructing endurance vehicles, but they were swiftly returned, and the two businesses fell apart. Lordstown declared bankruptcy in June 2023. The SEC filed court documents demanding $45 million from the corporation for “violations of federal securities laws.”
While selling Lordstown shares, Burns made tens of millions. His holding firm, LAS Capital, bought Lordstown assets for $10 million late last year. It invests in three other businesses.
Beyond the vehicle, the new venture is a reunion. Of the 16 LandX Motors LinkedIn workers, 13 previously worked for Lordstown Motors. The petition filed with Michigan lists Duane Hughes, the CEO who replaced Burns at Workhorse in 2019 and was fired in 2021 despite that startup’s troubles. Julio Rodriguez is presently LAS Capital’s CFO.
I believe in what we built in Lordstown, then and now. For that reason, I acquired back the assets and rehired most of the engineering staff,” Burns told Autoweek in December.
