Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, commonly known as simply Karmann, was a German

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

manufacturer and contract manufacturer based in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

. Founded by Wilhelm Karmann in 1901, the company specialized in a variety of automotive roles, including design, production and assembly of components for a wide variety of automobile manufacturers, including

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

and

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercia ...

. The company was broken up in 2010, after filing for bankruptcy the previous year. Its convertible roof components were purchased by Webasto,

Magna Steyr Magna Steyr AG & Co KG is an automobile manufacturer based in Graz, Austria, where its primary manufacturing plant is also located. It is a subsidiary of Canadian-based Magna International and was previously part of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch cong ...

, and Valmet Automotive— while the Osnabrück assembly plant, vehicle development, tools, and assembly systems were transferred to Volkswagen.

History

Karmann was established in 1901 when Wilhelm Karmann purchased Klages, a

coachbuilder A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

founded in 1874, and renamed the business. The company then grew together with the expanding automobile industry. Karmann became known for its work on

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

s, and other niche models. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and the reconstruction of the plant destroyed in the war, Karmann turned its focus on contract manufacturing and development for

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

. As early as 1935/36,

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volksw ...

had asked Karmann to investigate the possibilities of developing a prototype for a Volkswagen convertible. The chaos of the war prevented the idea from being pushed forward, as well as the cooperation with Volkswagen from starting 15 years earlier. On 1 August 1949, Wilhelm Karmann signed an order from Volkswagen for 1,000 "four-seater, four-wing convertible Type 15" - the

Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet The Volkswagen Beetle (also sold as the Volkswagen Käfer, Volkswagen Coccinelle, Volkswagen Maggiolino, Volkswagen Fusca in some countries) is a small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen introduced in 2011 for the 2012 model yea ...

. Over the next 50 years, a total of 2,548,765 Beetle Cabriolets would be produced for Volkswagen. In addition to the Beetle Cabriolet and Karmann Ghia, all cabriolet variants of the

VW Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...

as well as the Scirocco, and Corrado were built by Karmann. The 1960s saw the expansion of the company and further vehicle plants were set up in

São Bernardo do Campo São Bernardo do Campo () is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 844,483 (2020 est.) in an area of . History The city was founded by João Ramalho in 1553 a ...

(Brazil) and

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...

. In the years after 1965, complete vehicles and bodies of the

BMW New Class Coupé The BMW New Class (german: Neue Klasse) was a line of sedans and coupes produced by German automaker BMW between 1962 and 1977. These models ensured BMW's solvency after the company's financial crisis of the 1950s and established the identity of ...

, and its successor, the larger E9, were produced in Rheine. Installation of the engine and final assembly were handled by BMW at the Munich plant. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Karmann produced the body shell of the BMW 6 Series Coupé and the convertible models of the Ford Escort as complete vehicles. From the beginning of the 1990s, the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, European-market

Kia Sportage The Kia Sportage is a lineup of sport utility vehicles manufactured by the South Korean manufacturer Kia since 1993. Since 2004, the Sportage has been categorized as a compact crossover SUV, while previously it occupied the compact SUV class. It ...

s and from 1997 the

Audi Cabriolet Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The o ...

(type 89) and the Audi A4 Cabriolet (from 2002), as well as the Chrysler Crossfire (2003) and Mercedes-Benz CLK Cabriolet (A209, 2003) were produced as complete vehicles. Production of VW's Vento/Jetta (1992/93) and the Golf Variant A3 (1997/99) also shifted from Volkswagen in Wolfsburg to Karmann in Osnabrück.Karmann at a glance (press information of Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, December 2008) From 1985 to 1989, Karmann produced the

Merkur XR4Ti The Merkur XR4Ti is a performance-oriented 3-door hatchback sold in North America from 1985 to 1989. A product of the Ford Motor Company, the car was a version of the European Ford Sierra adapted to U.S. regulations. The XR4Ti project was champio ...

(an American-market version of the

Ford Sierra The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford Europe from 1982-1993, designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément — and noted for its aerodynamic styling producing a drag coeff ...

for the Merkur brand); and from 2003 to 2007, the Chrysler Crossfire coupe and convertible for Chrysler, at the time DaimlerChrysler. Many Karmann-built vehicles feature a small wagon wheel emblem, the coat of arms of

, where the company was founded. A large part of the development of the Crossfire was done independently by Karmann, and the vehicle was produced at their Osnabrück facility. Karmann U.S. also supplied the top sub-assemblies for the convertible variants of both the third-generation

Chrysler Sebring The Chrysler Sebring ( ) is a line of mid-size automobiles that was sold from 1995 through 2010 by Chrysler. Three generations of convertibles, two generations of sedans, and two generations of coupes were produced. Although the coupe shared the ...

and

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

. Karmann assembled

complete knock down A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, then exported to another country or region ...

(CKD) kits in an agreement with

American Motors American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...

(AMC). In 1968, AMC introduced the

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the ...

, a new competitor in the U.S. "

pony car Pony car is an American car classification for affordable, compact, highly styled coupés or convertibles with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image. Common characteristics include rear-wheel drive, a long hood, a short decklid, a wide ran ...

" segment. AMC did not have a manufacturing

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, therefore, Karmann assembled the American-designed car for distribution in Europe. Karmann built the cars in Rheine with V8 engines. About 90% of the necessary components were shipped by boat from the U.S. All were SST trim versions and their name, Javelin 79-K stood for AMC's "79" model number and the "K" for Karmann. A small number of vehicles were also produced in Brazil (São Bernardo do Campo). The Osnabrück facility also produced the chassis and body panels of the Spyker C8 Spyder. The production facilities in Osnabrück,

Chorzów Chorzów ( ; ; german: link=no, Königshütte ; szl, Chorzōw) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population ...

, Poland,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Japan,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, UK,

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

, Mexico, and Plymouth Township, U.S. manufactured roof systems for convertibles including the Mercedes-Benz CLK, the

Renault Mégane The Renault Mégane () is a small family car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault for model year 1996, and was the successor to the Renault 19. The Mégane has been offered in three- and five-door hatchback, saloon, coupé, conver ...

CC, the Nissan Micra C+C, the Pontiac G6, the Chrysler Sebring, the Ford Mustang, the

Bentley Continental Bentley Continental refers to several models of cars produced by Bentley Motors. Originally, it referred to a special chassis for engines more powerful than the usual offering, supplied to a selected number of coachbuilders for the fitting of v ...

, the BMW 1 Series, and the Volkswagen New Beetle Cabriolet.

The Karmann Ghia

The VW Karmann Ghia Type 14 is Karmann's best-known vehicle. Wilhelm Karmann Jr. conceived the idea in 1953, one year after taking over his father's car body company in Osnabrück. Karmann wanted to produce a sporty and open two-seater on the technical basis of the VW Beetle. Volkswagen was also interested in a sporty roadster that would be loved by American soldiers stationed in Europe and taken to the USA. Luigi Segre, the boss of

Carrozzeria Ghia Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Turi ...

in Turin, was included in the plan on the occasion of the Geneva Automobile Salon. A chassis of the beetle was shipped from Osnabrück to Italy and Segre put a self-designed body on the chassis. To Karmann's amazement, Segre presented him in Paris not a roadster, but a coupé. Shortly afterwards, the automobile artwork was presented to the VW General Director back in Osnabrück. VW boss Heinrich Nordhoff liked the coupé with its flowing lines and rounded shapes, so he agreed to build the car on the same day. In the first year of production, a total of 10,000 coupés were delivered instead of the planned 3,000 units. The VW Karmann Ghia became a sales success with over 360,000 units, even if the performance of the car with only 30 HP and 115 km/h top speed did not correspond to the sporty appearance. 1957 followed the Karmann Ghia Cabriolet and 1961 the bigger Type 34, the Karmann Ghia 1550, the design of which also came from Carrozzeria Ghia. In the quantities produced by Karmann, the Karmann Ghia coupés and convertibles were later slightly surpassed by both the Golf Cabriolet and the Scirocco; only when the first Karmann Ghia types were added together via the coupé and convertible was the Karmann Ghia the most successful Karmann vehicle.

Production to 2010

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Typ 34 Jul 1969 1584 cc

Chrysler Crossfire convertible black-autotop

Since its beginning in 1901, Karmann built more than three million complete vehicles of the models as follows, exceptions as indicated:

Car modules

Chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpar ...

** Chrysler Crossfire

Coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

2001–2007 ** Chrysler Crossfire Roadster 2003–2007 ** Mercedes-Benz SLK ** Spyker C8 Spyder * Roof modules **

Audi A4 The Audi A4 is a line of compact executive cars produced since 1994 by the German car manufacturer Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. The A4 has been built in five generations and is based on the Volkswagen Group B platform. The first ...

and

Audi S4 The Audi S4 is the high performance variant of Audi's compact executive car A4. The original Audi S4, built from 1991 until 1994, was a performance-oriented version of Audi's 100 saloon/sedan. All subsequent S4s since 1997 have been based on t ...

Cabriolet, 2001 **

Bentley Continental GT The Bentley Continental GT is a grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British automaker Bentley Motors since 2003. It was the first car released by Bentley under Volkswagen AG management, after the company's acquisition in 1998, and the fi ...

C convertible, 2006 ** BMW 1 Series convertible **

Mercedes CLK The Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class is a former series of mid-size or entry-level luxury coupés and convertibles produced by Mercedes-Benz between 1997 and 2010. Although its design and styling was derived from the E-Class, the mechanical underpinnings ...

convertible ** Nissan Micra C+C

retractable hardtop A retractable hardtop — also known as "coupé convertible" or "coupé cabriolet" — is a car with an automatically operated, self-storing hardtop, as opposed to the folding textile-based roof used by traditional convertible cars. The benefits ...

, 2005 ** Renault Mégane CC retractable hardtop, 2002 ** Volkswagen New Beetle Cabriolet ** Pontiac G6 retractable hardtop, 2007 **

retractable hardtop and convertible softtop, 2007 **

convertible, 2007

Motorhomes

The first Karmann motorhomes were launched in 1974 based on the

Volkswagen Type 2 The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), is a forward control light commercial vehicle introduced in 1950 by the Ge ...

'Bay Window' chassis. The bodies were of a sandwich structure. These motorhomes had two beds, kitchen, shower, waste water tank, rear body supports, leisure battery, toilet, water heater and gas heating. Options included the luggage rack over the driver's cab. Approximately 1,000 units were produced through 1979. With the introduction of the Volkswagen T2/3 - also known as the (T3/Vanagon/Transporter/T25) in 1979, the motorhomes received a permanent overhead area with a bed for two people. Called Karmann Gipsy, 741 were made between 1980 and 1992. This number excludes 30 or more Type 3 Syncro models made between 1986 and 1989, and 7 Syncro 16" models made between 1991 and 1992. In addition 113 Cheetah T2/3's were manufactured between 1986 and 1990 to make a total 891 Volkswagen T3 Karmann Coachbuilt Motorhomes - all produced in Karmann Rheine factory and not at Osnabruck as commonly believed. From 1978 to 1996, a total of 3,103 Volkswagen LT-based models were produced. These included the LT "M", LT "L 1", LT "L 2", LT "L Distance Wide", LT "L Distance-Wide Gold", LT "H Distance-Wide", LT "H Distance-Wide Gold", LT "S Distance-Wide" and the top-of-the-line LT "Distance-Wide Autovilla". In 1991, the Karmann motorhome design was updated and based on the Volkswagen T4. The Gipsy and Cheetah models names were retained in the form of the Gipsy I (SWB) and Cheetah (LWB). In 1996 two new models were introduced namely the Colorado and Missouri. The Volkswagen Transporter (T5)-based versions were introduced in 2003.

Insolvency proceedings

On 8 April 2009, Karmann filed for

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-shee ...

proceedings due to the sharp decline in demand for cars, and the company's financial obligations. The employment protection contracts of the large OEMs with the unions and the technological progress in vehicle construction led to the fact that the production of niche vehicles was no longer outsourced, but rather carried out within the OEM production network. Volkswagen, Karmann's longtime partner, revealed on 24 October that it had made an offer to acquire the company. On 20 November, Volkswagen took over the factory buildings, machinery, plant and land from the Karmann insolvent estate. With the exception of roof systems, Volkswagen Osnabrück encompasses former Karmann divisions: production systems (metal group), press shop, body shop, paint shop, assembly and technical development. On 4 November 2010, Finland's Valmet Automotive signed an agreement to buy Karmann's roof-component sections in Osnabrück and Żary, Poland. Karmann's North American operations were sold in August 2010 to Webasto Group. Effective 25 February 2010, the Japanese production site of Karmann was acquired by Magna International. Magna Steyr also manufactured the roof system for the Infiniti G37 Convertible in addition to the roof system for the

Nissan 370Z The Nissan 370Z (known as the Fairlady Z Z34 in Japan) is a 2-door, 2-seater sports car (S-segment in Europe) manufactured by Nissan Motor Company. It was announced on October 29, 2006, and was first shown at an event in Los Angeles ahead of th ...

Roadster.

Production after 2010

The Volkswagen-owned operations have produced the following:

References

External links

{{Commons category, Karmann vehicles Car manufacturers of Germany Coachbuilders of Germany Convertible top suppliers Electric vehicle manufacturers of Germany Companies based in Lower Saxony Osnabrück Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1901 1901 establishments in Germany Contract vehicle manufacturers