Workhorse Group

Workhorse Group

Workhorse Group incorporated in Nevada in 2007, originally as AMP Holding Inc., before acquiring the Workhorse brand and its AMP electric-drive technology. Founder Steve Burns exited in 2019, and the company cycled through leadership turbulence until Rick Dauch, formerly of Delphi and American Axle, became CEO in August 2021. Dauch immediately restructured operations, writing down the C-Series van program and refocusing the Union City, Indiana, plant on the W56 and W750 chassis lines. The firm has historically funded itself through public equity raises and asset sales, including the 2019 sale of its SureFly passenger drone IP to Moog Inc. Workhorse builds Class 3–6 battery-electric chassis and step vans aimed at parcel delivery, food and beverage distribution, and utility fleets. The W56 cab-chassis platform, launched in 2023, targets FedEx, UPS, and regional-fleet operators needing a lower-total-cost-of-ownership vehicle than diesel equivalents without the lengthy delivery timelines of the major automakers. The company also owns Aero (formerly Workhorse Aerospace), which designed the HorseFly truck-launched delivery drone, though the FAA-certified version remains in operational testing. Workhorse's deployment strategy has shifted from speculative production toward building against specific fleet orders — a cash-conservation move after posting consecutive quarterly operating losses. The firm sold roughly 19 units in Q3 2023 before ramping to a claimed run-rate capacity of 5,000 vehicles per year across its Union City and Sharonville facilities. The company employs fewer than 300 people across its two Ohio and Indiana locations. July 2024: Workhorse secured a GSA contract allowing federal agencies and the U.S. Postal Service to purchase W56 vehicles directly, per the firm's regulatory filings. Dauch has structured the manufacturing footprint to mirror the regional heavy-truck model — interior-supplier parts assembled in a low-overhead facility, avoiding vertical-integration costs that burdened earlier EV startups. The Aero division remains an asset-light drone-tech segment that the company can spin or license should regulatory tailwinds materialize. Unlike asset-lighting their competitors, Workhorse carries the full weight of a publicly listed manufacturer with no private-equity backstop — its balance sheet IS its fund. That forces a discipline few PE-backed EV companies face: every product must ship or the dilution risk is real. The 2023 re-IPO of Lordstown Motors' Endurance assets, which Workhorse retained a minority stake in through a 2019 IP-licensing deal, sits as a cautionary line item on the books rather than a core strategy.