VW To Purchase Karmann

Last we heard about Karmann, the rumor was that Volkswagen was saving them by giving them an electric vehicle contract worth $14 million. The word is now that VW is indeed saving the company, but by purchasing them outright.

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.