was a Chinese-German
automobile brand established in 2010 with headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. The company carried the name and logo of the former German brand
Borgward. Design and engineering was located in Germany, but the cars were produced in China by
Foton Motor.
In April 2005, Christian Borgward (grandson of
Carl F. W. Borgward)
[5] as president and Karlheinz L. Knöss as CEO and vice president of the supervisory board started the revival of Borgward. They started the development of the new Borgward automobiles with car designers Roland Sternmann and Benjamin Nawka, set up the organisation and engineer team and developed several car concepts. On May 21, 2008, Borgward and Knöss founded Borgward Group AG in
Lucerne, Switzerland,
[6] later relocating to
Stuttgart, Germany.
Foton earned the rights to maintain the Borgward name in 2014.
In 2018, Foton Motors announced plans to sell their stake at Borgward at 67%.
[8]
According to the German newspaper
Automobilwoche, the company struggled to earn better sales after Foton sold its 67% stake to UCar
[9] in 2019 for $614 million.
[1] The newspaper said that Borgward sold around 5,000 vehicles in the first half of 2020.
[1] According to André Lacerda, a Borgward salesman in Luxembourg, the company does not have plans to halt reintroduction of Borgward vehicles throughout Europe.
[9]
Charles Zhengyao Lu, chairman of Luckin Coffee, was also involved in an accounting scandal, which played a role in the sudden sales decline.
[7]
Borgward has reportedly vacated its headquarters in Stuttgart as of 2020 with calls to the office going unanswered.
[7] By 2021, most vehicle productions have been ceased.
[10] Borgward's Malaysian operations have been discontinued due to lack of shipment of vehicle models from China and mediocre sales.
[11] Ucar denied news that the company went bankrupt, but acknowledged difficulties in finding investors while it entered administration in June 2021.
[12] However, a Beijing court ordered its assets seized for failing to pay debt in December 2021.
[13]
Borgward filed for bankruptcy in Beijing on April 8, 2022.
[14][10] On December 5, 2022, the First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing approved the company's bankruptcy declaration.
[15]
Jochen Sibert from JSC Automotive, criticized the company's plan to use small stores instead of large dealerships to market the vehicles in 2020.