The idea had quite a charm, but was spiced with a pinch of Irrwitz: After decades of slumber, the car brand Borgward should resume from 2015 a revival in the turbo-pace. Finished financially for decades, the former Borgward boss Karlheinz Knöss sounded March 2015 opposite manager-magazin.de, An “affordable premium brand” was to become Borgward, by 2020, they would already produce 800,000 cars a year.
Should finance the comeback of the Chinese truck manufacturer Beiqi Foton. Foton acquired for small money the rights to the German traditional brand, which had slipped into bankruptcy in 1961. The unmistakable references to German engineering and car tradition should encourage the Chinese to buy Borgward. Initially, the adventurous plan seemed to work: the first new Borgward models since the 1960s, two SUVs, received passable reviews and sold neatly – in higher five-digit quantities.
Comeback story faltered
Borgward even wanted to raise a factory in Bremen, the former headquarters of the company, and sell his cars in Europe soon in five-digit quantities.
But the comeback story of the once so glamorous brand quickly got unsightly scratches: Last year, the Chinese new car market faltered, and hit Borgward with full severity. Interest in the brand went out of reach in China, where dozens of car brands vied for buyers. The losses grew, major financier Foton lost patience – and passed on a large part of its shares: At the beginning of the year took over Chinese company Ucar, a specialist for Ride Services and short-term rentals, 67 percent to Borgward for about 508 million euros.
Three months later, little is known about Ucar’s plans for Borgward reports the Neue Zürcher Zeitung now. Ucar offers chauffeur service in China, via App customers can order a car and driver. But Ucar clearly distinguishes Uber from the US start-up: While Uber drivers use their private cars, Ucar puts the cars to its drivers. The cars are reportedly coming from the premium segment. In addition, Ucar operates an Internet car sales platform and a travel portal.
Crisis sign also in Germany conspicuous
Ucar makes profits. But as deep pockets as Foton, which reported sales of $ 52 billion and a profit of $ 111 million in 2017, Ucar does not have: Last year, Ucar, according to NZZ on sales of 5.9 billion yuan (782 million euros) and one Net profit of 270 million yuan (36 million euros).
Borgward would need strong start-up aid in China, his real home market. From January to November last year Borgward sold there just 33,000 vehicles. In the two years before, however, Borgward came to a total of 100,000 sedan SUVs. To the originally announced worldwide sales of 800,000 pieces by 2020 Borgward has long been at a distance. “Ideas” that was, it was said a few months ago by official side, “meanwhile, we appreciate the much more realistic.” But stay with the plan to become a global player.
After all, Borgward has managed to build up a new brand since 2015 and stamp a plant from the ground. “We want to grow and grow,” said Borgward in mid-December. One faces a “challenge”, but is not yet in crisis mode. Continue to look at six-digit sales. But one does not know when it will happen.
There are also Germany for months clear signs of crisis. An originally planned deal with the car rental company Sixt for the sale of Borgward new cars burst, since mid-2018 Borgward sold his 44,000 euros available SUV model BX7 via the Internet on their own. Borgward’s expectations for the highly competitive German market were low from the start. A “very weak start-up curve” is planned, a spokesman said in December to manager-magazin.de.
Actually, sales started in the lowest rpm range. According to self-information, the brand with the rhombus logo has only sold a low three-digit number BX7 SUVs. Borgward is holding firm to its rather modest Europe sales plans: three more SUV models are to be launched in Europe this year. In the tiny car market of Luxembourg, Borgward began selling in the past year, signing a Memorandum of Understanding for the United Kingdom.
Big Europe plans look different. It is hardly surprising then that the construction of the planned Borgward factory in Bremen has been frozen for months. For the factory Borgward had reserved a plot of land at the Bremen Economic Development about one and a half years ago, nothing has happened yet. The reservation expired in December. But loud a report of the “Weser-Kurier” keep the Bremer the property continues to Borgward ready – at the request of the Borgward investor.
In China, inner-city salesrooms should bring the turnaround
At its Stuttgart headquarters Borgward should Borgward now according to the “Weser-Kurier” Plan job cutsBorgward did not want to comment on it to the newspaper. A withdrawal from Germany is “definitely not planned,” a spokesman assured the newspaper.
The few hundred employees in Stuttgart are likely to be unsettled. For last year they have experienced two changes of boss. The chief executive newly appointed in July Philip Koehn, once head of development at Rolls-Royce, threw in the towel in November. He was followed by Xiuzhan Zhu, a native Chinese who has been living in Germany for about 20 years and, according to Borgward data, has been working for the revived automaker since the restart in 2015.
New Borgward majority owner Ucar is reportedly involved in several Chinese automakers that focus on e-cars. In China, Borgward sells plug-in hybrid versions of its models; a purely battery-powered SUV model is expected to hit the market in 2019. Compared to the Chinese media, Ucar has declared that they want to sell Borgward models differently in the future: In smaller showrooms in inner cities instead of traditional dealers. The approach is similar to the concept of the electric car pioneer Tesla, but now wants to close a larger part of its showrooms now.
This sales channel for Borgward is not brand new, after all, the car brand in Germany wanted to score exactly with this concept. At the end of 2016, Borgward announced the setting up of a sales network in Germany – with so-called “brand centers”, ie smaller sales areas in city center locations. 20 to 30 such showrooms, it was said at that time, should be in Germany.
So far, there is only one: In Stuttgart, at the headquarters of the company.