A few years ago, Xiaobian first learned about "Borgward Auto" from a friend who made a 4S shop, and at that time, this German imported brand had a story, and its first BX7 was tall in terms of product exterior design and interior workmanship. Then, with the listing of BX5, BX7 TS, BXi7 and BX6, Borgward began a siege layout in the Chinese market.
However, Borgward's good days are very short-lived, and after recently disappearing for a long time, Foton Motor recently issued an announcement that it received a written notice from Beijing Borgward Automobile Co., Ltd. that Beijing Borgward was accepted by the court for bankruptcy liquidation on April 22, 2022.
From the sudden surprise to the eclipse, the contrast brought by Borgward Automobile to the industry is very large. I have to say that as a high-end car brand, Borgward Automobile has a very good start. In the context of the domestic high-end car market being unified by the BBA at that time, Borgward once regarded itself as a "Top Four Ashkenazi" and "BBBA" and other similar publicity, and let many consumers pay the bill, in 2017, the cumulative sales of 44,000 vehicles of impressive performance, and at that time can sell products to more than 300,000 yuan, it is indeed powerful.
Looking back at Borgward Automobile with today's eyes, with a fantastic start, Borgward positioning can not be described as inaccurate, and the product quality is not bad, but why did it still lose Maicheng?
In the view of "Playing Car Emperor", the failure of Borgward Automobile is not only the incomplete telling of the early brand story, but also the mistakes in the later operation, and the failure to follow up the new four trends in the product in time to transform, thus laying the groundwork for today's failure.
First of all, Borgward Automobile did not do enough thoroughly in the brand packaging, digging a deep pit for the outbreak of the brand credit crisis after that.
Until now, Xiaobian also admitted that Borgward's strategy of "borrowing corpses to return souls" was very successful, and for a new brand, it played a multiplier effect with half the effort. In fact, at that time, when the majority of consumers still admired foreign brands, Foton Motor newly packaged the former German car brand "Borgward" and launched the "BBBA" brand story, which impressed many consumers in the early stage, at least did not let everyone reject the brand.
In fact, in the past few years, some enterprises that lack confidence in their own strength have revived the phenomenon of foreign brands, in addition to Borgward, Siwei Automobile is also packaged with an Italian brand, and the more unreliable Italian SWM brand is also an off-road motorcycle brand. However, at present, although sway cars are not living well, at least they are still alive, and Borgward, which was once beautiful, is dead.
In the view of "Playing with cars", when Futian launched the Borgward brand, it either let the majority of consumers know that this was Futian's brand at that time, or let Borgward and Futian completely dissociate themselves from each other at the beginning and maintain the independence of the Borgward brand. As a result, it is conceivable that Borgward Automobile quickly "saw the light and died" after the brand background was exposed, and since then it has been in a slump.
Secondly, Borgward's second mistake was to let UCAR take over.
If Borgward is exposed by the media as a Foton company, so that consumers have no trust in this brand, which in turn affects the sales of Borgward Automobile in the market, then the company is anxious to transfer this brand to UCAR, then there is a kind of "broken can and broken" wayward approach.
In fact, at that time, in the face of the trend of automobile consumption upgrading that had just emerged in the industry, the market also needed a sub-high-end brand with a price positioning lower than BBA. Although the real owner of Borgward is Futian, it is also an indisputable fact that Borgward was once a century-old German car. If Borgward can follow up on the later products and be worthy of the standards and reputation of German quality, then it is only a matter of time before the Borgward brand is successfully whitewashed.
Unfortunately, Borgward Auto later pressed Baozhou UCAR. What pull can a company that is not a car manufacturer itself pull on the growth of Borgward Automobile?
If Borgward Automobile had been transferred to Geely or great wall, it would not have had such an ending as it is today, at least these two companies are serious automobile companies. Whether it is from the determination to build cars, concepts or enterprise strength and technology, etc., the improvement of Borgward has a great pulling effect. However, Borgward Automobile chose the most unreliable Shenzhou Youche, so at that time it was regarded by the industry as a capital operation, and it was not close to the car.
And the subsequent development, as we have seen. After UCAR took over Borgward, the sales of Borgward Automobile improved in a short period of time, and the annual sales of Borgward Automobile in 2019 were 54,500 vehicles, but the good times were not long, and soon Borgward Automobile fell into a situation of sharp decline in sales, and the annual sales of Borgward Automobile in 2020 were only 8703 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of more than 45,000 units. After entering 2021, Borgward car sales plummeted again to 3612 units.
Another reason for the dismal end of Borgward Cars in the end is the product.
To be fair, in the early stage of Borgward Automobile's listing, it still brought surprises to consumers in products, such as exterior design, interior workmanship, and technology configuration. According to some users commenting on the Internet, the quality of Borgward cars is also passable, and in the process of using the car in recent years, there has been no disturbing problem.
So in terms of products, where is the problem with Borgward Automobile? In the view of "Playing Car Emperor", it is Borgward Automobile that really regards itself as a German "BBBA". The price is set too high, and there is no obvious differentiation in the later products, so that consumers who choose this brand cannot fully feel the value for money, but the feeling of being deceived. Therefore, the stagnation of Borgward Automobile in the later period is also the result of its own lack of effort.
From the launch of Borgward Automobile in the past few years, we can clearly see that this is also the timeline of the high-end of domestic automobiles. After Geely launched the high-end brand Lynk & Co and the Great Wall launched the Wei brand, the domestic market pattern has completely changed. In addition, coupled with the rise of new car-making forces, the emergence of new energy vehicles such as Weilai, Ideal, and Gaohe, which are priced at more than 300,000 yuan, has made the domestic high-end automobile market appear a situation of hundreds of competitions and flowers.
Under this dual force, Borgward Automobile, which has positioned itself at a high-end level in previous years and is priced at between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan, missed the opportunity to continue to exert its strength. Coupled with the face of domestic intelligent electrification, Borgward Automobile has no more bright products after cutting out the three-plate axe.
The product is not convincing, coupled with the false brand story and the transfer of many times, the company has been in a state of shock for a long time, making Borgward more congenitally deficient and out of balance, and perhaps doomed to be eliminated from the beginning.