GM Ohio Plant Sold To EV Startup Making Tesla Pickup Truck Rival

General Motor's closed down Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio is reopening its doors, but this time with a new owner -- a startup electric vehicle (EV) maker.

GM confirmed the deal on Thursday, although no specific sale price was disclosed. The buyer is Lordstown Motors Corp, a company that builds electric pickup trucks and is partly owned by Motors Group Inc. The startup plans to start manufacturing before 2020 ends.

Lordstown Motors' first model is called Endurance, which makes use of a motor system that reduces the number of moving parts.

GM said, "LMC's plan to launch the Endurance electric pickup has the potential to create a significant number of jobs and help the Lordstown area grow into a manufacturing hub for electrification."

The purchase of the plant came after the United Auto Workers approved a new contract that ended a strike. LMC's chief executive and founder, Steve Burns, aims to sign in 400 workers in the next year but prefers to hire those who were former workers for the GM plant.

GM employees picket outside of the General Motors Renaissance Center in Detroit. An agreement to end the strike includes wage increases, but allows the automaker to close several plants AFP / JEFF KOWALSKY

"We think it is appropriate that it is union," Burns said. "Our goal is to hire those folks first who have experience and are still in Lordstown."

Burns sees the acquisition of the plant as a strategic advantage for his company since it lowers their costs and gets them to production quickly as the plant is still capable of producing half a million vehicles yearly.

The Ohio plant has been closed since March, and Chamber President James Dignan expressed his optimism about the deal.

"Seeing something come back to life out there is going to be exciting," Dignan said. "I think this is going to drive some more investment, not just in Lordstown but in the surrounding region."

LMC also hired Rich Schmidt last month as chief production officer. Schmidt was a former director of LMC's rival in the electric pickup segment -- Tesla. The Elon Musk company is set to unveil a pickup called Cybertruck that looks like it's straight out of the "Blade Runner" movie.

Musk tweeted the Cybertruck will be unveiled on Nov. 21 in L.A.