Gumpert Insolvent

German supercar maker Gumpert has filed for insolvency after a foray in to China failed to realise the expected sales.

We’re beginning to wonder if the only garden shed supercar makers actually able to make a go of things are British?

Gumpert – German maker of extreme supercars – has instigated insolvency proceedings after its plan to make the newly wealthy Chinese fall in love with its bonkers cars floundered.

This isn’t the first time Roland Gumpert – ex-Audi man and owner of the eponymous company – has been in difficulties. In 2010 Gumpert came back from the brink after securing additional investment, and it looks like that investment went on pushing Gumperts to China, which has sadly failed.

No one can deny the appeal of Roland Gumpert’s cars and their performance is mind-blowing. But they do have challenging looks and, frankly, they’re a bit agricultural inside and take more than a prod on the throttle and a twitch of the wheel to drive.

It looked like Gumpert was addressing those failings with the more visually appealing – and slightly more cosseting – Gumpert Tornante by TOURING, but that hasn’t really materialised and nor has the more Tornante-esque replacement for the astonishing Apollo S.

But all is not lost; the administrator for Gumpert says he sees real value in the business and cites the performance of the Apollo as evidence that Gumpert is viable.

We’re sure the administrator knows his business, but apart from getting Gumpert to concentrate on Europe instead of China he ought to be telling them to make their cars more visually appealing and less challenging to own.

The ingredients for Gumpert are all there, they’re just missing the marketing opportunities that a real depth of design – inside and out – could add to the mix.

We’ll keep our collective fingers crossed that Roland Gumpert can navigate his way through the current situation.