UPDATE | GM clarifies statements on GM/Workhorse/Lordstown

LORDSTOWN — A General Motors spokesman told The Vindicator this morning that Vice President Mike Pence was mistaken when he said Workhorse Group Inc. and an affiliated, newly formed company had secured funding to buy the idled Lordstown facility.

Jim Cain told The Vindicator that Pence was reacting to Workhorse obtaining $25 million from private investors for working capital and research and development.

That money isn’t “directly related to the sale” of the Lordstown plant, he said. The Vindicator had previously reported on that funding on June 20.

However, discussions between Workhorse, the new company and GM about buying the Lordstown plant are “ongoing and progress has been made,” Cain said.

“Everything going on between the three parties is defining what would be sold and under what conditions,” he said.

Cain was quoted by FreightWaves, a freight market news website, as saying Workhorse “is not buying the Lordstown plant.”

He told The Vindicator that is correct because it would be the third party, affiliated company that would purchase the facility, and Workhorse was never going to buy it.

Since Pence made the statement Tuesday to the media in Lancaster, Ohio, several local officials working to find a company for the GM complex said they didn’t know what the vice president was talking about regarding Workhorse.

A Workhorse spokesman hasn’t returned calls seeking comment on the company or Pence’s statement.

State Sens. Sean J. O’Brien and Michael Rulli today are at the Cincinnati headquarters of Workhorse to discuss with company leaders their potential interest in purchasing the idled GM plant.