VW’s supervisory board has approved the purchase of the plant, land and equipment belonging to Wilhelm Karmann GmbH in Osnabrueck, Germany. A new model, yet to be announced, is set to be produced at the site starting in 2011.

VW eventually plans to employ over 1,000 people at the site by 2014. The company is in final negotiations with Karmann shareholders regarding the deal.

It certainly is a nice turn of events. VW and Karmann have had a long history together, with the most famous vehicle of all being the long-running Karmann Ghia, which was built between 1955 and 1974.

As for reasoning in the purchase, they say that Karmann has extensive experience in the production of small cars, but so does VW (Beetle and Golf, anyone?).

The last vehicle to be produced by Karmann was the Mercedes-Benz CLK, which was renamed Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe for the latest generation of the E-Class lineup. We’ll see what model VW has planned for production at the factory soon enough -it should be next year if reports about production at the site starting in 2011 are true.

The Straits Times reported Karmann as saying: “Today, the last car built entirely by Karmann rolled off the assembly line.” That last vehicle was the Mercedes-Benz CLK, which has been discontinued in favor of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class coupe.

Karmann is probably best known to everyone by the Karmann Ghia, a VW-based vehicle that proved to be a smashing success for the company. It topped the American imported charts around introduction and 443,482 copies of the car were produced from between 1955 and 1974. Quite a production run!

In addition, VW manufactured the VW Beetle Cabriolet. So to say there’s a strong connection between the two companies would be an understatement. Of course, Karmann has produced vehicles for a wide variety of other manufacturers (to the tune of 3 million total vehicles built), but the connection with VW is the strongest and best known.

That’s why it’s interesting that VW is potentially saving the company with an electric-car deal worth $14 million. Karmann has helped VW with electric car concepts in the recent past and has recently shown off a new vehicle called the E3.

Given that electric car technology is a key part of VW’s future, they might be trying to secure Karmann’s expertise in the area. Who knows? But, I think this a pretty neat story if true. For now it’s just a report out of Germany’sNeue Osnabruecker Zeitung. I suspect we’ll be hearing an official word soon.

Sponsor: karmann ghia