The hell, Borgward?

"Nauraushaun" (nauraushaun12)
07/16/2018 at 20:43 • Filed to: None

I found myself reading about Borgward, and how “they” have “returned”.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is at pains to describe how they’re German-based, with German design and engineering, owned by Christian Borgward and based in Stuttgart. Sure they’re funded by a Chinese company it says, but they’ve announced cars at Geneva and Frankfurt! So very German.

Something about this seemed off to me. I dug deeper.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is your average super-bland SUV. It doesn’t look so different from the Chinese Haval. Hrm.

It’s manufactured in China. So far as I can tell, it’s only sold in China. Hrm. German eh?

Wikipedia lists it to be “related” to the Chinese Senova X65. Usually that means badge-engineered.

I’m calling it. The Chinese know that German manufacturers get all the prestige, that Chinese cars !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and that names like Dongfeng and Huanghai aren’t what people want. They know that manufacturing shit cars but tricking people into thinking they’re German is Very Profitable Indeed, and that’s what’s going on. This isn’t Borgward, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s lipstick on the pig.

Is this a bad thing? Yes and no. I’d rather not see the reputation of a deceased manufacturer get dragged through the dirt like this. But perhaps it’s not so very different to the Volvo situation - and if Volvo can still be Volvo with Chinese money, that’s great.

But is Volvo being Volvo? What is a Volvo? A name? An idea? !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Are they Swedish? Is a Canadian or Thailand or Belgium built Volvo still a Volvo? Hard to say.

But this feels like deception. That I take issue with.

Side note: why can’t they do what everyone else does? The Japanese entered the world market as cheaper, budget, value cars. Got a foothold. Improved quality. Now, as a whole, they have a great reputation, are worth good money. Then the Koreans moved into the cheaper end of the market. Same deal, are now doing very well . Can’t the Chinese just undercut the Koreans and slowly build a reputation? Does it have to be built on lies?

DISCUSSION (19)

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 20:48

Chinese companies should just start naming their cars very American names like Henderson or Johnson , or Mc Nuaghton.

Wacko > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 21:15

I found bor gward sounds more like a place in Harry Potter stories.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 21:18

Next up on revived German brands , the new 2019 Horch!:

Kinja'd!!!

HammerheadFistpunch > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 21:36

I agree with these statements.

fintail > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 21:42

Built on lies, sounds right.

ranwhenparked > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 22:35

The Chinese have a reputation for doing this sort of thing - see Nanjing’s acquisition of MG (though they did keep some UK manufacturing until 2016 ) and SAIC’s creation of a fake British brand (Roewe) when they couldn’t get Rover.

They’ve done it with phones, too, - Nokia, BlackBerry, Motorola

Nauraushaun > ranwhenparked
07/16/2018 at 22:57

Somehow I feel a little better about that too. Snapping up a dying brand and giving them funding is sort of sweet. And with someone like MG that has a trashed reputation, it’s less obvious that they’re trying to deceive buyers.

Still devious

Nauraushaun > HammerheadFistpunch
07/16/2018 at 22:58

Nauraushaun > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/16/2018 at 22:59

Lmao.

Nauraushaun > Wacko
07/16/2018 at 22:59

It does. I really don’t know who hears it and thinks “ah, innovation and quality and German engineering!”.

Nauraushaun > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
07/16/2018 at 22:59

Australia needs the Barry.

Matt Nichelson > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 23:05

Or Bruce.

zipfuel > Nauraushaun
07/16/2018 at 23:06

I’ve often wondered what defunct car company names from yesteryear are knocking around on the market and could be snapped up for either a Chinese rebadge or better still a vaporware silicon valley funded startup.....

Re grettably a lot of them ended up getting swallowed but the GMs of the world and so now are locked irretrievably in some IP vault.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Nauraushaun
07/17/2018 at 05:28

as well as the Cecil

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Nauraushaun
07/17/2018 at 06:13

Whilst I agree in principle...you are forgetting something. We are actually insignificant.

Chinese automobiles are not primarily targeted at western audiences. China is the biggest car market there is at this point. And a western heritage is a popular marketing contrivance in a market that is completely unfamiliar with western heritage brands. Especially at the middle class consumer end of the market.

So a Chinese company resurrecting a heritage brand makes marketing sense...in China. It makes less sense to western markets but we are just cream (on an ocean of skim milk) to most of their bottom line.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Nauraushaun
07/17/2018 at 06:15

Sheila. Or Jaidyn.

Barry, Bruce and Cecil are all English names...

Nauraushaun > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
07/17/2018 at 23:00

I’ve never met a Jaidyn. It’s all E nglish anyway somewhere down the line

Nauraushaun > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
07/17/2018 at 23:01

You are right. And it’s a bigger market than all the Western markets combined. And it will work.

Nauraushaun > zipfuel
07/17/2018 at 23:02

Like Horch apparently. Yes, definitely.