Lion Electric

The company faced production delays, falling revenues, and mounting debts, leading to creditor protection in Canada and Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US.³ In May 2025, a Quebec judge approved the sale of Lion Electric to a consortium of Quebec investors, allowing the company to continue operations on a reduced basis.¹²

Timeline

Money raised

Lion Electric received over $150 million in investment from the Canadian and Quebec governments.¹² The Quebec government spent more than $177 million on Lion Electric's future.⁵ The SPAC merger with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp. was expected to provide Lion Electric with US$500 million in cash.⁸ As of December 2024, Lion Electric had just under $300 million in secured debts owed to creditors.¹² Lion Electric delivered 89 vehicles in 2024 compared to 245 in Q3 of 2023.³

Investors named in the sources: Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec⁶, Finalta Capital⁶, Mach Group¹², Mirella & Lino Saputo Foundation¹², Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp.⁸, Pierre Wilkie¹², Vincent Chiara¹².

What happened

Lion Electric was founded in 2008 by Marc Bedard as Autobus Lion, or Lion Bus.¹⁵ The company's first school bus was the Lion 360, a diesel Type C model developed in partnership with Spartan Chassis, introduced in 2011.¹⁵ In 2017, Lion Electric transitioned to only manufacturing electric school buses and rebranded itself as Lion Electric.¹⁵ Two years later, in 2019, Lion Electric began manufacturing electric trucks.¹⁵ Lion Electric underwent rapid early expansion, opening a manufacturing facility in Illinois, US, and securing substantial public investments.³

In November 2020, Lion Electric announced a merger with Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, to list on the New York Stock Exchange with an expected market capitalization of US$1.9 billion.⁸ Lion Electric opened a manufacturing facility in Joliet, Illinois, in July 2023, with a grand opening ceremony attended by local and state officials.⁵ The Joliet plant was located in a leased 900,000-square-foot building and was the first auto assembly plant to open in the Chicago area in more than 50 years.⁵ At the time of the grand opening, the number of employees at the Joliet plant appeared to peak at 250, including temporary workers.⁵ Lion Electric had promised 1,400 manufacturing jobs in Joliet.⁵

In September 2023, Nicolas Brunet was appointed president of Lion Electric, and Richard Coulombe was appointed chief financial officer.¹⁶ In November 2023, Lion Electric announced layoffs of 150 employees, about 10% of its workforce, in the US and Canada.²⁴⁶ The layoffs affected production overhead, manufacturing, product development, and administrative functions.² Lion Electric posted record third-quarter revenue of $80.3 million in 2023, up from $41 million in Q3 2022.² The company recorded a net loss of $19.9 million in Q3 2023, greater than the net loss of $17.2 million a year earlier.²

Lion Electric delivered 245 vehicles in Q3 2023, 89 more than the 156 delivered in the same period the previous year.² In December 2024, Lion Electric announced it was halting production at its Joliet, Illinois factory and laying off over 400 workers.¹⁵ Nicolas Brunet resigned as president of Lion Electric in December 2024, 14 months after being appointed.¹⁵ Lion Electric filed for creditor protection in Canada and Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US in late 2024.¹³¹² The company faced production delays, falling revenues, and mounting debts.³

Lion Electric delivered only 89 vehicles in 2024 compared to 245 in Q3 of 2023.³ As of December 2024, Lion Electric had just under $300 million in secured debts owed to creditors.¹² Approximately 1,300 employees have been laid off since Lion Electric's woes began.¹² The Quebec government declined to participate in an investor-led plan to buy Lion Electric in early May 2025.¹² A court-appointed administrator said in May 2025 that liquidation of Lion Electric was very likely following the Quebec government's refusal to invest further public money.³

The Quebec government had already invested heavily in the company, with Premier François Legault stating that the province could lose around $140 million CAD on the company.³ Lion Electric laid off all but 12 of its employees and said it was unable to pay rent for all of its locations.³ In May 2025, Lion Electric's Joliet manufacturing plant equipment was put up for auction, signaling the end of operations there.⁵ The auction included more than 300 assembly plant items, including paint booths, crane systems, and a 40,000-pound vehicle lift.⁵ Herscher Community School District 2 in Illinois owned 25 Lion-C electric school buses manufactured at the Joliet plant, making up half the district's fleet.⁵

The district received a nearly $10 million grant in 2022 through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program.⁵ Superintendent Rich Decman said the district had received no further clarity from Lion Electric in recent months and hoped a competitor would buy out active contracts and honor warranties.⁵ On May 22, 2025, a Quebec judge approved the sale of Lion Electric to a consortium of Quebec investors led by Pierre Wilkie and Vincent Chiara.¹² The sale was approved through a reverse vesting order, which cancelled all issued and outstanding common shares of Lion Electric and maintained licences, permits, certifications, and regulatory approvals.¹² Lion Electric will refocus on manufacturing electric school buses at its facility in Saint-Jerome, Quebec, where it is also headquartered.¹²

The Saint-Jerome factory can produce 2,500 electric vehicles per year.¹² The Quebec government assured it will renew its subsidy program for electric buses.¹² The Fédération des transporteurs par autobus (FTA) said the move will ensure maintenance services of the approximately 1,300 Lion Electric school buses in Quebec will be retained.¹² Luc Lafrance, president and CEO of the FTA, said, "We are relieved to see that the hundreds of Lion electric buses currently on our roads will not be orphaned and that they will be entitled to the warranty and after-sales service they are due."¹²

Legal outcomes

• filedLion Electric filed for creditor protection in Canada and Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US in late 2024.¹³¹²
• settledA Quebec judge approved the sale of Lion Electric to a consortium of Quebec investors on May 22, 2025.¹²

Where the founders are now

Marc Bedard remained chief executive officer of Lion Electric as of December 2024.¹⁵

Sources

1. Lion Electric is back—and smaller than ever, thelogic.co, Jun 1, 202
2. Lion Electric lays off 150 employees, FreightWaves, 2023-11-27
3. Liquidation likely for Lion Electric - electrive.com, electrive.com, 2025-05-07
4. Lion Electric lays off 10% of workforce, manufacturingdive.com, Nov 30, 20
5. Lion Electric’s venture in Joliet is over, plant on auction block, Shaw Local, May 14, 20
6. Lion Electric job cuts a sign of leaner financial reality: analyst | Financial Post, financialpost.com, Nov 28, 20
8. How Lion Electric scrapped plans for a solo IPO, jumped on the SPAC bandwagon and ended up with a US$1.9B valuation | Financial Post, financialpost.com, Nov 30, 20
11. 424B3, sec.gov, Jun 14, 20
12. Judge OKs sale of Lion Electric to Quebec investors, sustainablebiz.ca, May 22, 20
15. Brunet Resigns as Lion Electric President Amid Company Battle to Stay Solvent, School Transportation News, 2024-12-13
16. Lion Electric Announces Management Changes, School Bus Fleet, 2023-09-18

How this case file was put together

Every statement on this page carries a numbered note, and every note points to a court record, a regulatory filing or a named publication in the list of sources. Each statement was checked against the text of the sources it cites before it was published: a figure, a date or a name the cited source does not contain was cut rather than kept. Allegations are shown as allegations, with their status at the time of the source (filed, charged, convicted, pleaded, settled, dismissed or pending). Quoted lessons are the words of the person or publication named with them, copied from the cited source; nothing here is our own opinion of why the company failed.

If a fact on this page is wrong, use "Report an error" below and attach the record that shows the correct fact. Every report is reviewed by a person before anything changes, and a corrected page says when it was last corrected.

All case files2024electric vehicles