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Borgward

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And another one for the road:

Borgward was a major German car manufacturer of the "economic miracle"-era. Their cars were celebrated for their design and were technologically advanced.

However, they suffered from the DeLorean-Disease. Run by an engineer, Carl Borgward, who was said to be unconsultable, they failed when economic troubles came up.

Borgward was broke in 1961. Their main mistakes might have been easily avoidable.
-too many models for a medium-sized manufacturer (they offered as many choices as Mercedes-Benz at the time)
-too much money spent on racing (as a brand which sold no real sports-car)
-and for the last model, the Arabella, a hasty development which lead to a lot of problems which shouldn't have existed, such as rainwater getting into the car

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A surviving Borgward might have been intruiging in the long run. It was the first victim of the consolidation of the German car industry in the 1960s, but such a rather prestigious brand surviving longer might have had some butterflies on the way the German brands realigned during the next 10-20 years.
 
Borgward also had major financial problems. It looks, like no one at Borgward had any idea how to actually finance a business. After they went into insolvency it was later found out, that they actually had money left, after paying everything back, so they weren't even insolvent to begin with.

A better managing, also with regards to their products and production would have helped them enormously.
 
Stop Leyland buying BMC and let Austin/Morris and all the other BMC marques die, thereby saving profitable and well run firms like Rover and Triumph allowing them to make the cars they had in development to replace the Dolomite, Toledo, Triumph 2000, P5 and P6.

Let triumph make small cars and sporty models and let Rover make Executive rockets, win all they way even if Jaguar have to go to the wall.

The biggest joke of all the BL frace was that the BL management got Morris quality people in to tell Rover how to make quality cars in the early 70s, that's kinda slightly the wrong way round to do it guys.....
 
Borgward also had major financial problems. It looks, like no one at Borgward had any idea how to actually finance a business. After they went into insolvency it was later found out, that they actually had money left, after paying everything back, so they weren't even insolvent to begin with.

A better managing, also with regards to their products and production would have helped them enormously.
We are the Borg(ward) prepare to be assimilated!:)
 
Agree. And easy to solve: once again because it was the only noble engine available, it had an extremely long career spanning well into the 90's, with boosted (turbo) variants reaching 400 HP (and even 700 HP for competition).

But when you match that with the design of the DMC-12 and the need to pass US emissions laws, you make it that much harder for the car to go faster. Turbocharging in the early 80s would be a solution for power but cause drivability problems and potentially reliability issues caused by heat in the engine compartment. The first turbocharged PRV engine was produced in 1984 for the 25 Turbo, but this engine didn't come with catalysts, a big no-no for a car meant to sell stateside. I still think that the better solution would have been a bigger engine - 130 hp (which is what the US version made) is not enough for a sports car that with driver and a full tank of fuel weighs over 3000 pounds.
 
Chrysler had just finished wrecking Simca, with Peugeot buying the bones.

I don't see them trying to resurrect things by rebranding Talbots, a few years after they cut that cord, when they are still building them as Omnis in Illinois.

I don't think Peugeot 305s would sell in the 80s USA, either.

I was more thinking that said hookup would be used to sell the 205, 405 and 605 - the 205 GTI would be a bonafide hit I'm sure, the 405 is a good sedan which is rather better handling and more fuel efficient than its Detroit rivals and the 605 would be a good large-size sedan. The 405 and 605 would have to have sufficient power for the task - at the time US emissions laws were stricter than in Europe, American fuel is terrible (particularly in California) and nearly all American cars have air conditioning and additional power accessories.

The big benefit for Chrysler in such a deal would be Peugeot's diesel engine experience and their European dealer network to help re-establish Chrysler Europe. For Peugeot, they get a ready-made rival to the Renault Espace right from the off and experience with bigger engines, as well as access to Chrysler's big US dealer network. Peugeot's engineers would help Chrysler develop better cars for Europe, while Chrysler's engineers help Peugeot develop cars for the American marketplace. The 305 probably wouldn't work, no. But the 205 GTI damn sure would, and I think with proper engineering and a good dealer network the 405 and 605 could as well. As I said before, once the 90s come around (and assuming Detroit continues to neglect its car lines), cars like the 306 and 406 will be big hits.
 
A better managing, also with regards to their products and production would have helped them enormously.

absolutely! Apparently, Carl Borgward's ineptness in Management was only Met by His insistence to Run this Part of the Business on His own. That Way Borgward Sold Models whose Revenue was negative without anyone noticing for a while. Another Chronic Mistake were Models too expensively constructed and offered for their Class.
 
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