Long-defunct German automaker Borgward has a new life in China if you couldn’t already tell by the photos. The automaker released images of its first new car — since I dunno, the Eisenhower administration? — and it looks destined for the land where rules for intellectual property are much more relaxed than public demonstration.
Buick business up front, Porsche party in the back.
The Borgward BX 7 is a five- or seven-seater crossover with a 2-liter, turbocharged four that will be produced in China, according to German site AutoBild. The fledgling German automaker is backed by Chinese truck maker Foton who says the carmaker could eventually sell 500,000 cars annually.
The Borgward BX 7 will go on sale first in China, then in Germany by 2017, according to the report.
The brand will show off its near-production car first at Frankfurt this month and then again in Geneva. The BX 7 will reportedly come in all-wheel drive, hybrid and sport variants, according to the report.
The car will sport a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, leather seats, advanced safety systems including pedestrian detection, and a seven-speed DSG automatic transmission. Pricing will start at €35,000 ($40,000) and comes with all that glorious body.
Cunyunuro
I’d rather have this than a Chinese-made Volvo! BORGWARD doesn’t really roll off the tongue or sound luxurious, though.
That being said, if they sell this in the US, people will see that badge and recall a Renault Alliance.
Borgward sounds kind of like warthog.
This thing does sort of look like an Isabella from the front.
Thing is, even makes that haven’t been defunct for 55 years, and then reborn as Chinese cars, have nothing in common, appearancewise, with their Eisenhower era forebears. Chevrolet? Ford? Effin Fords look like mean fish with those slit eyes. the Fords of yore were beautiful, and their faces looked like they had nice personalities.
I’m sure with some colorful ceramic infill, the diamond will look nothing like the Alliance badge. The original huge diamond had paint in two of the quadrants that matched the rest of the car, if I recall correctly. I’d seen a couple 1950s Borgwards while growing up in the early-mid 1960s and they reminded me of Peugeots. I always confused the name with Borg Warner, maker of transmissions.
Not a bad looking rig.
I fail to see the family resemblance…
http://tinyurl.com/obldhvs
Hey Sergio, maybe these guys will take a copy of your Alfa roadster (which is already a Miata copy) to paste their corporate face on.
Replacement parts, Made in China, are genuine faux Borg Warder..
So it’s a Chinese copy of a Q5 with a badge intended to hide the Chineseness a bit. Eventually the Chinese are going to make a car that will be desirable to Western buyers standing on its own. It hasn’t happened yet.
@dal20402
It is engineered and designed in Europe, like Volvo
It’s not a copy of anything, it resembles the Q5 mostly because its a fwd platformed awd crossover so the proportions look very similar especially since borg warner is supplying the awd and dct setup. It’s designed by the same guy who did the Saab 9000 and they have a 1000 employee HQ in Stuttgart, and Carl Borgward’s grandson has apparently been working on making this happen for 7 years now since he reregistered the company all the way back in 2008. The most interesting thing is that this turbo motor that’ll have to meet European emissions while putting out actually decent power is being done entirely in house.
Foton itself is a subsidiary of BAIC, so they can tap their sibling corporations for help and maybe BAIC’s purchase of old Saab platforms might have lead them to pick Saabs former head designer.
Either way the car is much more German than most of the comments are implying, it has the usual German turbo motor plus DCT plus available AWD kind of powertrain and they at least have significant in house engineering going on in Germany with a lot of support from Beijing both financial and with engineering manpower. I actually think it looks pretty handsome, it looks clearly German bu doesn’t actually knock anything off.
If the interior is as nice as the exterior and their in house motor doesn’t blow itself up right away it’ll probably be a pretty decent car. For the kind of money they’re asking they must be pretty confident so it’ll be interesting to see. Honestly I can actually see some old Borgward’s cues in the front end, the rear end probably could use some tweaking with the headlights to look more modern
Well, its not bad looking. I personally think its distinctive enough. Good luck to em.
I disagree about the name not sounding luxurious. It sounds like the name of some multi-million dollar estate thats been in the same family for generations.
Borgward was the 3rd best selling car in Germany in the 1960’s before its demise as a manufacturer
@John Taurus
Very interesting History. GM and Chrysler shareholders wish they were treated as well, when both their companies went bankrupt
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borgward#Financial_problems
Borgward…..
Sounds like a Star Trek deflector shield.
KIRK: Raise the deflector shields!
CHEKHOV: This vessel’s shields are dropping!
MR. SCOTT: The Borgward modulator has failed sir!
Picard’s time as a ward of the Borg gave his character a bit more depth, but they should have expanded on it more than they did.
This kind of thing happens in the wristwatch biz. Someone buys the name of an old Swiss watchmaker and produces watches under the name and advertises them with flowery “legendary watchmaker in business since 1890, blah blah” language and grainy portraits of the old man who started the business. Meanwhile, there’s little or no connection except the name in most cases.
Reminds me Nakamichi audio, long forgotten from mother market, bought by foreigner, aping Bang & Olufsen…
The Chinese-spec model will feature spikes on the front bumper to ensure that any pedestrians who are struck by it are killed instantly.
Which (in China) will lower your insurance rates…
Buick and Porsche? Someone’s imagination running wild there.Foton is the biggest Truck maker in China and makes a lot of trucks.How this “Borgward” will plan out is another question. Asian backed European Auto manufacturers, have so far been successful. Examples : Land Rover ,Jaguar and Volvo
I think I will wait for the Isabella coupe, for a SUV then definitely a Woolseley.
When I grew up in Sri Lanka in the 1950’s (Ceylon then), I used to see the occasional Borgward passing through our village. License plates for cars lasted the lifetime of the car those days and most of the village lads knew the license number, make and model of cars that frequently passed through the village. Austin Cambridge, Ford Prefect, Morris Minor, Vauxhall Vywern, Opel Record, Triumph Mayflower, Renault Dauphin, Fiat 600 and Skoda were the most common cars. About once or twice a month we would see a big Cadillac belonging to a rich family about 50 miles up-country from the village cruising through the village. Whenever we heard it’s distinctive horn we would run to the road side to view the passing wonder.
I’d like to hear about how the Germans will perceive it.
I like the looks of this vehicle. The grill would look better with a Buick emblem on it instead of a Renault emblem. “Wouldn’t rather have a Borgward” has a nice ring to it especially as a lead in to the showing of a Harry Potter Movie (Borgward kind of goes with Hogwarts). My problem would be with the quality. It is nicer looking than a lot of vehicles on the market now. Toyota should copy this vehicle. Maybe Foton should take over FCA and GM. Foton could make a good copy of Buicks (especially the Enclave) and Grand Cherokees. Foton would probably raise the level of quality for Chrysler vehicles.