German Engineering for Chinese Wannabes

In most markets, resurrecting a car brand that last built an automobile the year John F. Kennedy became president would appear foolhardy. Unless, it seems, you want to sell in China. Germany’s Borgward Group, the latest aspirant to tackle the world’s biggest auto market, saw its last Isabella coupe roll off a production line in 1961. But with the help of state-owned Chinese truckmaker Beiqi Foton, the revived brand began sales of an SUV last month in Beijing.

Borgward Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Walker is counting on Chinese consumers’ affinity for foreign brands—more than half of new autos sold there last year sported a foreign nameplate—and reverence for German engineering to spur sales. “It’s German DNA, genuine design, long history,” says Walker, a former Daimler executive in Asia who earlier led the Smart brand. “We position ourselves above Japanese and Koreans, but below or close to Volkswagen” and will target well-educated young families who “would be happy to buy a BMW but couldn’t afford it and wouldn’t buy a cheap brand.”