IN THE 1950s, Borgward was the fourth-largest car manufacturer in Germany employing more than 20,000 people in its heyday. Their cars were sold under the Lloyd, Hansa, Goliath, and Borgward brands.
As a child growing up in England, I greatly admired these stylish cars. Apart from their good looks, they were brimming with cutting-edge technology, which made them rather expensive so sightings were quite rare.
The Borgward Isabella is considered by some to be one of the most beautiful cars of its era. The Borgward 2400 was an early fastback sedan, available with an in-house automatic transmission and its successor, the P100, was one of the fastest cars in its segment.
The Borgward 1500 Rennsport was a small, advanced coupé designed to compete with the likes of Porsche, Jaguar, Ferrari, and Alfa Romeo.
Despite its excellent engine, it was somewhat hampered by its heavier chassis – but it did manage a solid win in its maiden season, at the Grenzlandring with Hans-Hugo Hartmann at the wheel.
The engineering passion that drove Borgward contributed to its downfall. Each brand had its own engineering and purchasing departments, there was little commonality among the cars, and sometimes, the company found itself short of cash.
In December 1960, the company folded and Carl Borgward, the founder of the company, handed over everything to the city-state of Bremen, where Borgward was headquartered.
The state senate put Johannes Semler in charge. Whether deliberate or not – Mr. Borgward had political enemies in high places – this was a disastrous move as Mr. Semler also headed BMW’s supervisory board.
BMW was a direct competitor of Borgward, and Mr. Semler’s half-hearted attempts to save the company came to an end less than a year later.
Many assets were shipped to Mexico, and the P100 was assembled there until 1970. A late-1970s attempt to resurrect Borgward with a new car that put carry-over technology under the skin of an AMC Hornet never came to fruition.
But now, Borgward is back. In 2008, the founder’s grandson, Christian Borgward, teamed up with former Saab and Daimler PR Executive Karlheinz Knöss. Last year, they sold the rights to the brand to Beiqi Foton Motor in China.
Borgward’s all-new offering after so many years out of the market is the BX7. It was showcased for the Asian market at the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition last Friday.
The BX7 is a premium compact SUV with a direct-injection four-cylinder turbocharged engine that is coupled with the intelligent and fully variable iAWD all-wheel drive system to ensure a high degree of agility. It will later be launched in Europe in plug-in hybrid and all-electric drive versions.
Once again, Borgwards are being made in Bremen though on a much smaller scale than the 1950s. This allows Borgward to push the prestigious “made in Germany” tag – far more attractive internationally than “made in China.”
There’s been no announcement as to when the BX7 will be available in the Philippines.
The BX7 is a far cry from the stately coupés the company turned out in the 1950s. There are still many Borgward fans among classic car collectors. Really good restored models can change hands for up to US$50,000.