Karmann and the Ghia:The fame and fall of a cult era

The former family company from Osnabrück became world famous with the Karmann Ghia. But much more was produced there. The Karmann era has been history since 2009.

At its core, it's just a beetle. Maybe streamlined and lowered, but a beetle. The top model has just 50 horsepower under the hood and not even the most savvy drivers can get more than 160 things out of the box. Nevertheless, the Karmann Ghia is called a "sports car" by its fans - and almost 50 years after the end of production, the Ghia spirit lives on:in fan clubs, inventor meetings and Internet forums, whether in Germany, France or the USA. The small Beetle coupe is a cult.

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The Ghia is the only car from the car specialist from Osnabrück, whose real name is Karmann. A year after Wilhelm Karmann took over his father's body shop in Osnabrück, the Karmanns worked out the soft sports car based on the Beetle in 1953 - together with the Ghia styling studio in Turin. Almost two years later, series production starts. The two-seater costs 7,500 marks for the premiere. Between 1955 and 1974, Karmann built more than 360,000 Ghia coupés.

Status symbol and eye-catcher "topless"

The Ghia Cabriolet follows from 1957, around 80,000 of which are made in total. It doesn't take long for the Karmann Ghia to make a name for itself on the roads of the world. Because the model with Italian design based on VW is considered a symbol of the longings of the post-war period, as a status symbol of the economic upswing.

Women and commercial photographers love the Ghia

Despite the low engine output of usually 30 hp, the cars are considered the epitome of elegance. Women in particular are said to appreciate the Ghia. Film stars like Romy Schneider and Petra Schürmann drove it back then - and in numerous advertising photographs of the time or also in film recordings, a Ghia is often somewhere in the picture as an eye-catcher.

From wooden cars to war debris to people's cabriolets

So much glamor is not to be expected at the beginning of the company's history. Originally Karmann is a factory for horse-drawn carriages and is called Christian Klages. In 1901, Wilhelm Karmann bought the Osnabrück car company and a year later brought his first wooden car body onto the market. In 1913 he registers the first folding roof patent.

After the Second World War, the Karmanns found their workshops in ruins and had to start all over again. Wilhelm Karmann laid the foundation for the post-war boom in 1949 when he bought a VW Beetle on a ration coupon and used it with his son - also a Wilhelm - to build a four-seater convertible. The decapitated Beetle arrives at VW - the Wolfsburg company immediately orders 1,000 pieces. Karmann produced the people's convertible into the 1980s and sold more than 332,000 units in total.

Karmann becomes a specialist for sports coupés and convertibles

In the 1950s, cabriolets and sports coupés became the specialties of car manufacturers from western Lower Saxony - and the Karmann Ghia is by no means the only successful brand that has achieved a certain cult status. Karmann's "topless" models are particularly popular. Almost all major manufacturers were customers of the Osnabrück-based company until the company went bankrupt in 2009 - and they didn't just order small series:the Golf convertible has long been the best-selling convertible top in the world.

Whether soft tops, steel bodies or the complete program from the drawing board to the end consumer:At that time, an automobile giant planning a new street car often turned to Karmann. However, the car company is more reluctant to use its own name. Although the Karmanns build and develop complete cars, they call themselves suppliers very modestly. And hardly anyone who gets into their Audi convertible, Mercedes CLK or convertible Golf knows that they actually drive a Karmann.

In the summer of 2009 an era will come to an end

The 2009 black Mercedes CLK is the finale in the long line of "topless" cars Karmann has produced since 1949. The CLK convertible alone was delivered around 225,000 times. More than 3.3 million vehicles were manufactured in Osnabrück in total. Then Karmann's history as an independent car manufacturer comes to an end:On June 22, 2009, the last convertible rolls off the assembly line. The now insolvent company had tried in vain for orders for a long time. But the car manufacturers had changed their production strategy - and the global financial crisis made the situation even worse. The company was finally dissolved in 2010, and many of the 4,247 employees were laid off.

VW takes over remaining parts of the company

At the end of 2010, Volkswagen takes over the technical development of Karmann. The roof division is sold to various interested parties:Magna takes over the Japanese location, the Mexican and North American plants go to WebastoEdscha, the Finnish carmaker Valmet takes over production from Osnabrück and Poland. In March 2011, VW finally secured the remaining economic parts of the company, including the remaining employees as well as the patent and trademark rights, and restarted vehicle production. The former Karmann employees in Osnabrück are now building the Golf Cabriolet for VW, among other things - until 2016.

Around 2,300 employees are now working in the Osnabrück plant, both in technical development and in vehicle construction. The T-Roc convertible is currently being produced there, and a bus for the ID electric car family is being developed.