The long-dormant Borgward car is hotly searched.
Not that it is about to be resurrected again, but the news that about 2.07 million yuan and interest cannot be repaid.
Recently, the enforcement ruling of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing Municipality shows that the First Planning (Beijing) Culture Co., Ltd. applied to the court to enforce about 2.07 million yuan and interest of Borgward Automobile, and the court inquired about the account, house ownership, vehicle registration and industrial and commercial registration of the judgment debtor and found that the judgment debtor had no property to enforce.
How miserable! A mere 2.07 million yuan, Borgward can not repay. You know, for the main engine factory, such a little money can not even open a new car listing conference.
It also portends that today's Borgward cars are left with an empty shell, just as it did eight years ago when it came to China, when it was naked and still naked.
In 2014, Foton motor spent 5 million euros to buy the Borgward AG brand, and the "luxury car brand" that had been dead for half a century was able to come to the Chinese market to pan for gold.
It pinpoints the weakness of the Chinese people's crazy preference for German cars, as well as the trend of China's consumption upgrading. After the launch of the first SUV product BX7 in April 2016, it actually received more than 40,000 orders in half a year, which is a bit of an Internet celebrity.
2017 was the highlight of Borgward, when it sold 44,000 new cars and achieved revenue of 5.76 billion yuan, and although the net profit that year was still 985 million yuan, it was still a treasure in Futian's eyes.
Unfortunately, this is already the peak of Borgward, like a short flower, only open for a while and then thank you.
Starting in 2018, Borgward's sales began to plummet, selling 32,900 vehicles that year and expanding profit losses to 2.54 billion yuan. Unable to stand it, Futian finally officially put 67% of Borgward's shares on the shelves in November 2018, and a month later, Changsheng Xingye (Shenzhou Department) took control of Borgward for 3.973 billion yuan, and Borgward has officially entered the Shenzhou era since then.
In 2019, Borgward's sales reached 54,528 vehicles, creating the best annual sales performance after the resurrection, and public opinion once rendered the tone of Shenzhou's revitalization of Borgward. But clear-eyed people know that this is just a left-handed game of Shenzhou's internal car rental business, and there are very few people who really buy on the C-end.
According to the analysis of many financial media at that time, Lu Zhengyao won Borgward, not to invest a lot of capital to let Borgward engage in technology, research and development, and push new cars to rush sales, but a new retail capital game similar to Luckin Coffee.
Sure enough, Borgward sold only a pitiful 8703 vehicles in 2020, a staggering drop of 84.04%. And in 2021, sales will be cut again year-on-year, leaving only 3612 vehicles!
At present, Q1 of 2022 is coming to an end, but from the Search of Sohu Auto Sales Database, Borgward's sales are still zero eggs, which explains why Borgward can't even afford 2.07 million yuan of debt now.
Eight years ago, Foton brought Borgward back to China, hoping it would get a piece of the world's largest auto market.
It's just that the ideal is too full, and the reality is too bone. In the past eight years, Futian has lost a lot of money, and after selling 67% of its equity, it has actually lost more than 5 billion yuan, which can be described as a realistic version of the bamboo basket to hit the water.
For Borgward itself, eight years ago it came to China and eight years later it became a dream, and as many media said, it has become the biggest laughing stock in the car market.
Where does Borgward go from here? Shenzhou did not have the time, money and energy to turn it upside down, Futian was focused on collecting debts, his father did not hurt his mother, he did not love, and he often quarreled, expecting these two shareholders to be blind.
What awaits Borgward is either like Lifan, which has been acquired by Xiaomi, a new car-making power for a long time; or someone like Zotye who has taken over the reorganization; or it will continue to rot and disappear in the Chinese car market.
Judging from the information disclosed by the media so far, the negotiations between Lei Jun and Lu Zhengyao have reached an impasse. According to people familiar with the matter, Lei Jun's bid was extremely low, far lower than the price Lu Zhengyao paid for Borgward, and the industry speculated that Rebbs wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to pick up a bargain. But Lu Zhengyao insisted that Borgward should not be sold cheaply.
Next, where Borgward will go, perhaps only time will give us the final answer.