Confirming earlier reports, Volkswagen announced on Friday that it will buy assets of German coachbuilder Karmann. Volkswagen also announced that its new Karmann subsidiary will produce at least one new model for the German car maker.
Rumors of VW’s interest in Karmann surfaced in October, following shortly after the Osnabrueck, Germany-based coachbuilder’s bankruptcy filing. VW and Karmann were said to be far off on a selling price, but the two sides apparently made good. VW failed to release any financial details, but did confirm that it will acquire land, machinery and equipment from Karmann.
VW plans to begin vehicle production at Karmann’s Osnabrueck factory by 2011, but has yet to reveal what model will be produced there. VW plans to hire 200 new people at the Osnabrueck facility by 2010, with that number climbing to 1,000 by 2014.
Karmann is best known for producing the VW-based Karmann Ghia, which was produced from 1955 to 1974. Karmann has worked with a number of car makers over the years, including Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Renault, Ford and BMW. Karmann was last rumored to be developing an all-electric vehicle for VW.
11/20, 6:22 PM
posted by:
DenverGuy217
No surprise here. Good job
11/20, 6:25 PM
posted by:
reedfast
why don’t they make a 911 based Ghia?
11/20, 6:49 PM
posted by:
Madcapp
Good times. Keep Karmann alive.
11/20, 7:06 PM
posted by:
AutoCritical
Can’t wait to see what they come up with!
11/20, 7:16 PM
posted by:
zoomzoomer
More than likely they will be hand-assembling the Bugatti sedans since the company expects to ramp up production of those compared to the current Veyron model.
11/20, 8:14 PM
posted by:
85ZingoGTR
I really didn’t know Karmann was its own company. I thought it was a design studio for VW like Pininfarina is to Ferrari.
11/20, 8:20 PM
posted by:
orangecones
@85Zingo… Pinifarina does design work for other brands as well. Including Daewoo.
11/20, 10:47 PM
posted by:
netguru2000
If they come out with an updated version of the Karmann Ghia, they’ll sell more than they can produce if it looks cool. It’s amazing how much people will spend for nostalgia.
11/21, 2:22 AM
posted by:
A4
The updated Karmann Ghia? Bluesport concept.
11/21, 10:42 AM
posted by:
PhuckFavre
strong high revin’ motor (4 or 6 or even a small small v8)
6 speed stick/6 speed auto w paddle shift
brembos
decent stereo
good body lines
rag top
reasonably priced (unlike the mini)
is it possible?
11/21, 3:32 PM
posted by:
jandrews90
@A4 – yeah that was my first thougth too, maybe a vw,audi,porsche and now a Karmann version of the bluesport?
11/21, 9:06 PM
posted by:
Samintosh
A4 +1
11/23, 11:44 AM
posted by:
alvint
mk6 Golf Cabrio….
11/24, 6:12 PM
posted by:
oldraven
AWESOME. Did this sound too obvious to anyone else?