Foxconn has stopped building electric tractors for California startup Monarch tractors after Taiwan’s technology giant recently sold its Ohio plant to SoftBank.
Monarch CEO Praveen Penmetsa confirmed the news in a LinkedIn comment Tuesday. He also said his company will work with Foxconn to “build stock” before the factory is sold, and his startup will “sufficiently meet customer demand with plenty of spare parts for the next 12 months.”
“In the coming weeks, we will share more plans to introduce more monarch-equipped products in the market through new manufacturing partnerships,” Penmessa wrote.
After sale, SoftBank will work with Foxconn to use the factory to create equipment for the Stargate AI project, led by Openai and Oracle.
Foxconn purchased the former General Motors Factory from EV Startup Town Motors in 2022. Foxconn Chairman Young Liu said before sales the facility would become “North America’s most important electric vehicle manufacturing and R&D hub.”
Monarch was one of four companies that Foxconn was advertised as a customer (or potential customer) in the electric vehicle contract manufacturing business that he was trying to establish at his former General Motors plant. Foxconn has built hundreds of tractors for the monarch at the factory, but the startup is struggling. Last year it went through a two-round layoff, and as the California wine industry crashed, it had to pivot quickly to a new type of customer.
Foxconn wanted to build a vehicle because everything filed for bankruptcy. The startup took place in 2023 while Foxconn made a small number of Roadtown Motors pickups at the plant. Foxconn has never built any vehicles in its factories for these companies and has also had both vehicles since it went out of business.
TechCrunch Events
San Francisco
|
October 27th-29th, 2025
We are constantly aiming to evolve and you can help us by providing insights into TechCrunch and your perspective and feedback on our coverage and events! Fill in this research to let us know how we are doing and get the opportunity to win an award in return!
