German supercar manufacturer Gumpert files for insolvency
We’ve been talking quite a bit about how the hard economic times are having an effect on the car-making world. While some of the larger companies are looking for ways of appealing to new markets and creating new markets, some smaller companies simply can’t deal with the new competitive climate and have to shutter.
The German supercar manufacturer Gumpert, known for the incredibly quick Gumpert Apollo, has not been protected from the economic hardships that everyone everywhere is feeling, and has applied for provisional insolvency. That’s a phrase that has been used a lot recently in the car-making world.
This came after a potential lifeline from the lucrative Chinese market did not pay off, which also dried up the company’s operating capital.
The company was founded in 2004 by Roland Gumpert who had been the director at Audi Sport when the company won four World Rally Championship titles.
The Apollo Sport model is still the holder of one of the fastest ever lap times around Nurburgring, an incredible 7:11.57 back on August 13, 2009.
But for those who think that those times definitely belong to the past, there might be some kick still left in the company, as they are talking with investors about their future, because the Apollo has gathered a very exclusive fan base through Europe and Germany and production still continues with the first vehicle being set to be sold sometime in the very near future.
Filing for insolvency doesn’t exactly mean that the company is dying, but instead that they can restructure their business model in order to better cope with the demands of the market.
