Foxconn will manufacture self-driving electric tractors for startup Monarch Tractor at the same Ohio factory where it plans to assemble EVs for startups Fisker and Lordstown.
California-based Monarch announced completion of a contract-manufacturing agreement with Foxconn last week. Production of the Monarch Mk-V tractor is scheduled to begin at the Ohio factory in the first quarter of 2023, following an initial, smaller production run at Monarch's own facility Livermore, California, toward the end of 2022.
Monarch Mk-V electric tractor
Monarch's press release announcing the agreement said it's working with Foxconn on "next-generation agricultural equipment and battery packs," potentially leaving room for other manufacturing partnerships beyond the tractor.
Monarch completed a $61 million Series B funding round in 2021. At the time, it said it would launch 15 pilot programs for its tractor.
The 6.2-million square-foot factory that will build the Monarch tractor—along with at least two other EVs—is located in Lordstown, Ohio, and was built by General Motors. It last manufactured the Chevrolet Cruze compact car before GM effectively abandoned it in 2018 amid a series of cutbacks.
Monarch Mk-V electric tractor
Some of the people involved with electric truck startup Workhorse formed a new entity called Lordstown Motors, acquired the factory, planned and use it to manufacture the Endurance electric pickup truck. That is finally scheduled to start later this year, but with Foxconn running the factory and manufacturing the Endurance for Lordstown under contract.
GM later in 2019 announced a battery plant for the area, and the non-union facility has become one of the core Ultium Cells LLC plants supplying its large-format pouch cells.
Foxconn is due to start making the $29,900 Fisker Pear at the same factory in 2024. The Pear will be Fisker's second production model, after the Ocean SUV, which is scheduled to start production at Magna's Austrian facility later this year.
