Workhorse Enters into Strategic Agreements with Hitachi and Hitachi Capital America

CINCINNATI, Aug. 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Workhorse Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WKHS) ("Workhorse" or "the Company"), an American technology company focused on providing sustainable and cost-effective electric drone-integrated vehicles to the last-mile delivery sector, announced today newly-formed strategic agreements between the Company and both Hitachi America, Ltd. ("Hitachi America") and Hitachi Capital America Corp. ("Hitachi Capital America" or "HCA").

Under these agreements, Hitachi America and other Hitachi Group companies ("Hitachi") will provide an operational assessment of Workhorse's manufacturing, operational and supply chain capabilities, benchmark to best-in-class standards and provide recommendations to Workhorse that support the Company's increased production requirements. Hitachi will leverage its Smart Manufacturing, data-driven digital solutions and Electric Vehicle (EV) technologies, powered by Hitachi's rapid-solution-delivery platform, Lumada.  In addition, Hitachi Capital America will assist in developing a national dealer network and will support Workhorse's sales with vehicle financing options for both dealers and customers, including dealer floor-plan programs.

"This alliance with Hitachi comes at an ideal time for Workhorse as we value their best in class innovation and experience in ramping up production and enabling us in providing a complete solution to our customers.," said Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes.  "With Hitachi's innovation and invaluable expertise in EV technology, smart factory automation and digital technologies, Workhorse is primed to build on our early leadership position as the only last-mile EV distributor selling vehicles for commercial use across the country. In addition, we believe Hitachi can help the Company drive customer orders as a well-known and respected player in the commercial leasing and finance industry, and we are looking forward to benefiting from their expertise."

"We are excited to partner with Workhorse to help accelerate the roll out of their EV solutions and meet growing customer demand in North America," said Hicham Abdessamad, Chief Executive, Hitachi Global Social Innovation Business and Chairman, Hitachi America, Ltd. "Hitachi is uniquely positioned in the growing commercial EV market with a set of innovative technologies and solutions to enable production capacity at scale, a reliable charging network infrastructure and a digital platform for intelligent vehicle routing and energy optimization. The Workhorse partnership is a strong testament to Hitachi's long-term commitment to Social Innovation."

Kirk Mann, SVP & GM, Transportation Finance at Hitachi Capital America, added: "We are pleased to enter into this multi-year strategic commitment to support increasing Workhorse's channel capacity. We will provide the financial and distribution expertise to bring Workhorse's C-Series delivery vehicles to end-users."

About Workhorse Group Inc. 
Workhorse is a technology company focused on providing drone-integrated electric vehicles to the last-mile delivery sector. As an American original equipment manufacturer, we design and build high performance, battery-electric vehicles including trucks and aircraft. Workhorse also develops cloud-based, real-time telematics performance monitoring systems that are fully integrated with our vehicles and enable fleet operators to optimize energy and route efficiency.  All Workhorse vehicles are designed to make the movement of people and goods more efficient and less harmful to the environment.  For additional information visit workhorse.com.

About Hitachi America, Ltd.
Hitachi America, Ltd., headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, is a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501). Hitachi America – the North American regional headquarters of Hitachi, Ltd. – and the 106 Hitachi Group companies in North America, employ over 28,800 people as of March 2020. The company drives digital innovation across five sectors - Mobility, Smart Life, Industry, Energy and IT - through Lumada, Hitachi's advanced digital solution for turning data into insights that drive digital innovation. The Hitachi Group is focused on its Social Innovation Business, which combines information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and products to deliver solutions that increase social, environmental and economic value for its customers. For information on other Hitachi Group companies in North America, please visit http://www.hitachi.us/ (the United States), http://www.hitachi.ca/ (Canada) and http://www.hitachi.com.mx/en (Mexico).

About Hitachi Capital America Corp. 
Hitachi Capital America provides financing and services solutions that help businesses in the U.S. and Canada achieve their growth objectives. Our offerings include mobility supply chain solutions, retail and wholesale financing for work truck dealers, vendor programs for OEMs, inventory finance solution for technology dealers, structure finance solutions for a variety of projects and as-a-service needs, and asset-based lending and for a variety of businesses.

In keeping with our social innovation focus, HCA strives to improve society by supporting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.  We are proud to provide solutions that enable energy efficiency and mobility improvements for many business and organizations.

Three Keys Capital Advisors, LLC arranged and structured the agreements, and advised Hitachi Capital America.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "intends," "should," "seeks," "future," "continue," or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: our limited operations and need to expand in the near future to fulfill product orders; risks associated with obtaining orders and executing upon such orders; the ability to protect our intellectual property; the potential lack of market acceptance of our products; potential competition; our inability to retain key members of our management team; our inability to raise additional capital to fund our operations and business plan; our inability to satisfy covenants in our financing agreements; our inability to maintain our listing of our securities on the Nasdaq Capital Market; our inability to satisfy our customer warranty claims; our ability to continue as a going concern; our liquidity and other risks and uncertainties and other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. Workhorse expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Workhorse Media Contact:

Mike Dektas
Creative Storm PR
513-266-3590
[email protected] 

Workhorse Investor Relations Contact:

Matt Glover and Tom Colton
Gateway Investor Relations
949-574-3860
[email protected]

Hitachi Capital America Media Contact:
Chuck McKay
203-956-3301

Hitachi America Media Contact:
Kazuko Amamoto
[email protected]
914-333-2994

SOURCE Workhorse Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.workhorse.com