July 5: Why Borgward and why now?

Recognize these vehicles? Recognize their name? You don't? Ok, so read on.........

Recently it was announced that the old German car company, Borgward, defunct for many, many years (55, if you are counting), would be resurrected beginning in China. Well, at least the name would be brought back to compete for sales in the burgeoning Chinese market. Why? That's a very good question. Obviously, someone, or group of someones, with mucho dinero has seen an opportunity to bring back a great(?) old name. Borgward? Did anyone miss this brand? Does anyone even remember it? Again, good questions.

Borgward was German, which might be the only good thing going for it. Do you remember these models......

......the Isabella sedan and coupe? I think that I remember seeing the coupe at sometime in the past, but probably that's just my over active imagination or bad memory, as I'm not sure they ever came to North America. At one time this company was one of the major players in the German market, but closed in 1961 due to bad management. So, this brings me back to the question, why Borgward?

Here are some of their other ads from back in the day. One features the sporty Isabella coupe, which for its day was rather attractive. The panel vans are...........well, panel vans. The purple car is a Pullman, which translates to a small limo. Not a great ad.

The current belief in China (as well as everywhere else) is that German cars have a very good reputation for quality, so someone saw the chance to trade on this old brand, as opposed to starting from nothing. In my mind, resurrecting the Borgward name after 55 years is like starting from nothing. It didn't work for Mercedes with Maybach. Sure, the name is still used, but only as a sub series of their S Class. So will it work for the new Borgward?

There will be three models, a couple of suvs (surprise, surprise) and a sedan. As for styling, which is so personal, the sedan is a big nothing. The suv's on the other hand are almost Lincoln MKC and Audi Q3/Q5 clones (why mess with success?). Let's take a look......

Borgward

Lincoln

Get my point or do you still need some convincing?

Borgward

Audi

This might fly in China, but I wonder how it will work in Europe? Borgward's plan is to get established in China and other growing economies, before tackling their home base of Germany and surrounding areas. Pricing? Similar to VW.

Starting any new car company is a tough job and requires so much more money than expected. Will Borgward survive and provide competition to the other big players in that market, like VW and GM, as well as the homegrown brands? Will this lady in a Borgward ad from the past, entice new buyers into a brand, which probably means nothing to China's new monied class?

Like anything in the future, it remains to be seen, so stay tuned.

Until next time.......