Borgward’s German factory in question, new HQ in USA

The Chinese investor behind the potential comeback of Borgward has questioned the set-up of the factory in Bremen, while a new HQ was set up in Silicon Valley and a safety platform prototype for autonomous driving was introduced.

50 years after the namesake Carl F.W. Borgward went bankrupt, the return of the company to Bremen had made some major headlines. Now, the investor behind the Borgward Group’s revival is questioning whether Bremen is a good place to manufacture. The news is not a surprise: following a series of delays and plan changes following the 2016 announcement, the blame was initially placed on Chinese financial policies. Now, the decision of where to launch a production facility is being questioned.

It will likely be decided whether the factory will be built in Bremen in the next six months. If the decision falls to produce in Germany, a Borgward spokesperson confirmed that the location will be in Bremen.

At the same time, Borgward has also just set up a US headquarters in Silicon Valley, where the company presented a new safety platform for autonomous vehicles. “Our U.S. R&D center provides a crucial gateway for the brand’s entry into the North American market in 2021,” said Jason Yang, president and CEO, Borgward Group.

The new platform is currently still in the prototype stage, but incorporates three major safety features: automatic honking, advanced risky behavior identification and labeling, and marking of high-risk physical areas. The technology is expected to be integrated into Borgward vehicles within 3 years. The technology will also be made available to other manufacturers, according to Dr. Zhou Xing, director of artificial intelligence for autonomous driving: “Our AI platform aims to solve this problem, not just for Borgward’s products, but for the AD industry so that all communities can benefit from safe self-driving cars.”

weser-kurier.de (Bremen, in German), prnewswire.com