Driving value + impact in the global automotive industry
Motoring Ventures is an investment, growth, strategy, and operations consulting firm focused on driving value + impact in automotive and manufacturing businesses around the world. We have extensive operating experience throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
We invest in healthy or underperforming companies and carve-outs of businesses and brands. Our focus is on automotive and other complex engineering and manufacturing businesses. We build sustainably profitable companies that have a positive impact on society.
Our hands-on consulting services help drive your business to reach its full potential:
Edward Hightower is an electric vehicle OEM CEO, global automotive executive, entrepreneur, public board director, and published author. He is the managing director of Motoring Ventures LLC.
Hightower served as chief executive officer and president of Lordstown Motors Corp., an original equipment manufacturer of electric vehicles for the commercial fleet market. In 2022, he led the operational turnaround of the company, implementation of a new asset-light business strategy, and launch of its first vehicle – the Endurance battery electric full-size pickup truck. In doing so, over 700 jobs were saved, and Endurance was selected as a finalist for 2023 North American Truck of the Year. Of all the new electric light-duty vehicle manufacturers, Lordstown was one of the very few (Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and Lordstown) to have successfully developed, certified, launched, and delivered its vehicles to customers. Crain’s Automotive News magazine recognized Hightower as the first African American CEO of a publicly traded automaker. Hightower also served as CEO of the electric vehicle design and engineering joint venture between Lordstown and Foxconn. The Endurance assets and IP were later sold as part of a value maximizing strategic restructuring process.
Earlier, Hightower served in several new-product development, engineering, strategy, brand marketing, and senior executive roles between Ford, BMW, and GM, including leading GM’s $20 billion global crossover utility vehicles business as the vehicle line executive / executive chief engineer. He also worked as a hands-on growth, strategy, operations, and M&A consultant at AlixPartners, LLP. Along with Lordstown, Hightower served on the boards of directors of Tritium Charging of Australia (Nasdaq: DCFC), Tempel Steel, and HEVO Power; and served as an advisor to Kiira Motors, a Uganda, East Africa based manufacturer of electric city buses.
Hightower authored the book Motoring Africa: Sustainable Automotive Industrialization, published in 2018. Based on his industry experiences in China, India, South Korea, Mexico and Brazil, Motoring Africa makes the case and offers an actionable roadmap for economic development by building sustainable automotive manufacturing businesses in six of the 54 countries in Africa.
Originally from Chicago, Hightower earned a BS in General Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He is a lifetime member of both Kappa Alpha Psi and the Council on Foreign Relations. Hightower is a 5th degree Black Belt and certified sensei instructor of Isshinryu karate. He and his family live in metro Detroit, Michigan, USA.
PBS documentary about the transtion to electric vehicles.
The power of high-growth emerging markets combined with local manufacturing.
Interview with renowned industry journalist John McElroy.
Driving value + impact in the global automotive industry
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