Nikola shares fell more than 20% on the news.
Following the allegations, GM reminded investors that it had not yet entered into an agreement with Nikola. The new agreement announced on Monday morning is still only a memorandum of understanding, not a final agreement. Under this agreement, GM will simply be a supplier to Nikola.
According to Nikola executives, the Borz pickup will only be built under an agreement with an external company. The company has now said it will refund deposits placed on the truck by potential customers.
“Nikola is focusing on its core business of manufacturing zero-emission trucks,” a Nikola spokesman said in an email.
The two companies will discuss Nikola’s possible application with GM’s Ultium battery system, which will be used in GM’s future electric vehicles.
“It has evolved from Nikola’s toy changer business into a good supply partnership, but nothing to write about at home,” Daniel Ives and Strecker Backe analysts at Wedbush Securities wrote.