I found myself reading about Borgward, and how “they” have “returned”.
The Wikipedia page 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.
The car itself 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 are shit, 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? Heritage? 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?