Borgward Brand Declared Bankrupt In China

Chinese-owned German brand Borgward has declared bankruptcy in accordance with a court order issued in Beijing sometime last week. According to Automotive News Europe, the brand is now awaiting approval to liquidate all its assets too.

The report notes that Borgward suffered losses of up to US$564 million (approx. RM2.463 billion) last year due to lack of sales. Said figure is reportedly based on filings made by current owners of the brand on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Since 2010, the once prominent German marque has been under the ownership of Foton (Beiqi Foton Motor), a subsidiary of the China state-owned automaker BAIC Group.

Historically, this is the second time the Borgward brand has gone under, the first time being in 1961. A revival was underway when Foton acquired it in 2014 with the initial aims of brand expansion in the burgeoning Chinese passenger car market then. Since then, sales has only peaked at 55,000 vehicles in 2019 before shrinking down to a mere 3,600 units in 2021.

Image source: Borgward MY Facebook

Borgward BX5 local assembly (CKD) roll-out back in June 2019.  Image source: Borgward MY Facebook

The brand’s line up consisted mostly of crossover SUVs such as the BX5 and BX6. The former was even introduced in Malaysia at one point and was being locally assembled (CKD) sometime in June 2019. However, details of which, not to mention the brand’s sales and after-sales network, are almost non-existent, thus explaining why sightings of the BX5 on our roads are extremely rare.

Image source: Borgward MY Facebook

Local effort aside, Borgward even planned to open a new factory in Bremen, Germany in 2019 as well with an annual output target of 10,000 units. However, this didn’t materialise, and we reckon the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that ensued in 2020 didn’t help things.

It’s likely that both factors contributed towards stifling the brand from actually achieving any meaningful production and sales marks.

Presently, there are no reports of any external parties interested in acquiring and rescuing the brand just yet. However, in an age where the bulk of Chinese manufacturers have reached critical maturity and the rise of electrification worldwide, another revival seems all the more unlikely for the historic German marque.