End of Karmann ??

[Hubcap]

June 23, 2009

Specialist German auto group Karmann has turned out its last convertible car, a Mercedes-Benz CLK, as it looks to survive insolvency through a major restructuring.

"Today (Monday), the last car built entirely by Karmann rolled off the assembly line," a company statement said.

Karmann, which was founded in 1901, has built more than 3.3-million convertibles for auto makers since 1949, including VW Karmann Ghias and Beetles, Ford Escorts, Mercedes CLKs and Audi cabrios.

However, the recent collapse of global auto markets sealed the company's fate and it decided to focus its activities on producing auto parts in a bid to stay in businessCollapse of global auto markets sealed the company's fate.

Karmann still employs about 2000 people.

"We could no longer avoid shutting down the vehicle assembly line because auto manufactuerers' strategies have changed," the company's administrator Ottmar Hermann was quoted as saying.

Karmann was recently beaten to a major contract by the Canadian group Magna, which also assembles cars for major brands in addition to producing auto parts.

Magna is in talks with US auto giant General Motors to buy GM's European activities, notably Germany's Opel. - Sapa-AFP

[Chris]

I wonder what is going to happen to the Karmann campers that they are building?