Borgward losses spur majority stake sale by China's Foton

China's Beiqi Foton Motor plans to sell a 67 percent stake in Borgward as losses at the German brand it revived four years ago escalate.

The move is intended to attract new Borgward investors, Shanghai-listed Foton said in a statement.

Borgward, once Germany's third-largest automaker, was liquidated in 1961. Foton, a truck subsidiary of state-owned Chinese automaker BAIC Group, acquired the rights to the brand in 2014.

In the past two years, Borgward has launched two gasoline-powered crossovers, the BX7 and BX5. In May, the battery-electric version of the BX7 also went on sale in China. The vehicles are assembled at Foton's renovated plant in suburban Beijing where the automaker is headquartered.

Borgward re-entered its German home market in July with the BX7 TS. It is the first vehicle the brand has sold in Germany since 1961. In 2016, Borgward said it planned to open a factory in Germany to build 10,000 cars a year.

Borgward's sales have shown no signs of improving. In the first seven months, the brand's deliveries slumped 23 percent year on year to 18,996 vehicles, according to the China Passenger Vehicle Alliance, a Shanghai consultancy.

Because of limited sales, Borgward suffered a loss of more than 1.6 billion yuan ($231.5 million) as of August this year, according to Foton.

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