Germany's Borgward car brand vanishes again as quick as it reappeared

BERLIN: The Borgward car brand, which was revived with high hopes in 2015 by Chinese carmaker Beiqi Foton Motor, has been declared officially insolvent by a court in China, Automotive News Europe reports.

The motoring gazette said a Beijing city court drew a final line under the revival of the traditional German brand at the end of November 2022.

Borgward has also applied to First Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing for approval to liquidate its assets, the report said.

Borgward's official website is tagged by the Firefox browser with a warning to users which indicates that the website's certificate has probably expired.

The bold scheme to revive Borgward began in 2014 with the sale to Foton of the brand rights by the founder's grandson Christian Borgward.

The Chinese truck manufacturer, a subsidiary of BAIC Group, was keen to enter the passenger car business and sell SUV models under the Borgward brand in China and Europe in the future.

Borgward sold various petrol-powered crossovers in China where an electric version of its BX7 model was also offered. Sales topped 55,000 in 2019 but slumped to 3,600 units last year.

The company set up its European headquarters in Stuttgart at the end of 2016 and heralded a new production plant in Bremen for the European market which never materialised.

Analysts say the coronavirus pandemic dealt a serious blow to Borgward's efforts to gain a foothold in the market. Another drawback was the use of the Borgward brand name last seen on cars in the 1960s before the original company went bankrupt.

In 2017, Borgward had underlined its European aims with a large stand at the IAA car show in Frankfurt.