Workhorse Group Inc., an American technology company focused on providing sustainable and cost-effective electric drone-integrated vehicles to the last-mile delivery sector, announced strategic agreements between the company and both Hitachi America, Ltd. and Hitachi Capital America Corp.

Under these agreements, 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. In addition, Hitachi America and other Hitachi Group companies 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.

"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, Senior Vice President and General Manager, 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."

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.