So what are Karmann doing now then?

[PoorMansPorsche 0]

So if Karmann are not making Corrado's and Mark 1 Golf Convertibles anymore what are they actually doing now, they must be quite large factory ??

 

anyone know or am i missing something??

 

ramble over

[Ice White Socks 0]

Karmen do more than just VW stuff- I think they made the Escort Cosworths and stuff and make the Chrysler Crossfire and some Audi convertibles now. I think their order book is pretty slim now though- the Mk5 Golf Cabrio is being made by another company that I believe is located in the same town!

[PoorMansPorsche 0]

cheers

 

funny that i thought the Crossfire was a bit similar in its way to the rado, that is long bonnet and stumpy arse and of course the active spoiler !!!

(cant stand em though !!)

[RW1 0]

At least three factorys I seem to remember in the seventies but I'm sure Eric will enhance. Two in Germany making all sort of cars as written above and one factory in Brazil involved in car production. They've got more office/factories in Portugal, USA & Mexico.

 

Osnabruck does more than just two car lines. It's an engineering company site with good CAD / Laser cutter facilities etc.. A lot of car stampings made there for all sorts of companies. Rounded one corner in the factory in 1999 and there were stacks of crates to the roof with front and back Jaguar XK8 wings going to Coventry!

 

Rhine plant use to make a Kia, yep, look at the embosed emblem on the side door pillar on that little "Jeepy" thing of theirs. Prototype production lines of the Golf Mk3 estate before it was moved to Wolfsburg.

 

Fascinating place if you are into engineering in any way.

 

Their speciality is really short / low volume productions runs of car assembly with flexible staff. Scirocco 1 /Beetle Convertible /Karman Ghia bucked the trend but they didn't start out with that intention with VW generally.

 

Their headache is that production costs are higher than normal and others are now muscling in - usual story of an older established company.

 

Goto to the website:

 

http://www.karmann.com/website_all/home ... ortal.html

 

 

Lots of good detail and history of the company which goes back to the late 1800's when they made little two wheel horse & trap type things, hence why the old Beetle and Golf Convertible top covers contain real horse hair in their lining!

 

They use to make Adler cars (German) before WW2, yes the typewriter company which after WW2 abandoned car making to make typewriters which why when you get into the "personal collection" room you will see Adler cars from the 1930's as well as a horse & trap carriage.

 

 

 

.

[Tempest 0]

Pretty much summarised it all there, plus the inevitable link to the Karmann website.

 

Thos of you joining in on the Karmann trip will also get a nice glossy brochure on Karmann (still have mine) listing all the cars they've ever built.

 

Renault are also amongst their customers, Merc, Audi.

 

Their current production is Crossfire and Merc SLC (both part of Merc anyway), the Crossfire having been designed by Karmann, but based on the older Merc subframe (hence details such as rigid front frame, wehereas the newer Merc SLC has a removable front frame allowing for the engine to be inserted from the front rather than from the top - all of which was shown to us during the factory tour last year).

 

Crossfires and Mercs are nearing their production end, nothing major on the horizon for Karmann despite sending out 150 offers to various companies a day !

 

The Audi A3 cabrio was their most recent coup, but production goes to the nearby Rheine plant.

 

It's a major let-down that VW no longer use Karmann for their Mk5 Goof cabio, another reason not to buy VW (unless you want a free whore with every Goof, but that's a different story involving guys like Hartz et al, self-run fake companies in the Czech Republic, etc., costing VW a hefty 23 million Euros alone in not-allocated expenditure!)

 

Tempest

[Rob Heath 0]

My mates got a new megane convertable and thats got a karmann badge on

[RW1 0]

My mates got a new megane convertable and thats got a karmann badge on

 

Made in the Rhine Factory.