Electrical car startup Lordstown Motors mentioned Tuesday that its president, Edward Hightower, shall be its new CEO, efficient instantly. He succeeds Daniel Ninivaggi, who strikes right into a strategic function as the corporate’s govt chairman.

Hightower, a veteran engineer with previous expertise at Ford Motor and Common Motors, will proceed to guide the corporate’s three way partnership with Taiwanese contract producer Foxconn, which purchased Lordstown’s Ohio manufacturing facility for $230 million in Might. The three way partnership plans to design and develop EVs, which shall be manufactured by Foxconn.

“With over 30 years of automotive expertise and having made important contributions to the Endurance launch preparation and Foxconn transactions, Edward is the right particular person to guide the corporate and launch our product growth efforts with Foxconn,” Ninivaggi mentioned in an announcement. 

Ninivaggi joined Lordstown in August 2021 after the corporate’s founder, Steve Burns, was compelled out amid allegations that he had misled buyers. Ninivaggi is credited with main an overhaul of Lordstown’s manufacturing plan for the Endurance, an electrical pickup truck, and with engineering the sale of its manufacturing facility to Foxconn in alternate for much-needed capital. He’ll give attention to “company technique, strategic partnerships, and capital elevating” in his new function, the corporate mentioned.

Lordstown’s shares have been up greater than 3% in premarket buying and selling after the announcement.