Huang Ximing, a former senior engineer at Ford Motor Co. who returned to China from the United States to create electric vehicle startup Bordrin, warned the 4-year-old company has run out of capital to maintain operations.
“Bordrin has encountered severe operational difficulties” behind his failure to make swift adjustments to “changes in the business environment,” Huang said in an open letter Monday.
As a result, Bordrin has “missed out on many fundraising opportunities,” leading to “unredeemable losses” and severe cash shortages, he noted.
The company is restructuring and seeking to generate cash by cooperating with external parties on existing technology products, he added, without revealing details of any new ties.
Bordrin and other EV makers have been undermined by China’s weaker new-vehicle market, exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak, as well as lower demand for EVs after Beijing dialed back incentives.
Bordrin was established in Shanghai in 2016. The EV startup displayed its first product, the Bordrin iV6 electric crossover, at the Shanghai auto show in April 2019.
Under an agreement the company signed with FAW Xiali Automobile Co. — a car subsidiary of China FAW Group — in September 2019, the iV6 was set to be produced at FAW Xiali’s plant in the north China port city of Tianjin before the end of the year.
Bordrin has disclosed no further details about the production plan.