Karmann tradition with Volkswagen future

The Osnabrück plant: cabriolet and small series competence. Since 1901.

Story: Location Osnabrueck: competence for convertibles and small batch production since 1901

The last Beetle Cabriolet is produced at Karmann Osnabrück - followed directly by the Golf I Cabriolet

Steel roof or "fabric hat"? Wilhelm Karmann did not ask himself this question at the beginning of the 20th Century when he, in 1913, registered his first patent which was to turn his young company in Osnabrück into a global operation decades later. The "mechanics for the folding top" went on to revolutionise automobile construction for vehicles "without a roof". Karmann already had twelve years of experience in body construction of carriages and the early automobiles.

From a carriage to a Beetle Cabriolet
With a large order from the Adler Plant in Frankfurt am Main, the Osnabrück company became, as of 1926, one of the leading pioneers of German cabriolets. A rolling legend which is still being built today was created when Wilhelm Karmann – now two generations, Senior and Junior – set up a business connection with the Volkswagen Plant in Wolfsburg shortly after the second world war:

The Beetle Cabriolet, which was developed by Karmann in Osnabrück and was then built under commission from Volkswagen from 1949 to 1980, is – as with the fixed roof version – a synonym of the German economic miracle and also represents the upturn of the company. Up to 10 January 1980, a total of 331,847 Beetles with a fabric roof rolled off the production line. It was with this model that the Karmann's reputation as a specialist for the cabriolet roof and small series grew.

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (Typ 14) Cabriolet

Italian chic for Wolfsburg: Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
The myth "Karmann" was, however, to be linked to another Volkswagen with a different and particularly pleasing sounding name: "One of the most beautiful cars in the world". That is how Gute Fahrt (Good Trip), a magazine for VW drivers, described the car in September 1955. And even if it was "just" a sporty coupé built on a Beetle platform – the elegant lines of the Karmann Ghia captivated the motoring press and car drivers alike during Germany's economic miracle. Two years previously, Wilhelm Karmann Jr. had presented the prototype of the Karmann Ghia Coupé (Typ 14) to Volkswagen General Director Heinrich Nordhoff for the first time: 1953 in Georgsmarienhütte – Italian chic for Volkswagen. And the "old man" from Wolfsburg was convinced; the Osnabrück company received the commission to develop the car into a model ready for production. The first vehicle rolled off the production line in spring 1955. This continued until 1974. A total of 362,601 Karmann Ghia coupés were built. And East Westfalians continued to up the ante. As would you would expect with a cabriolet: from the time it entered the market in 1957 until 1974, 80,881 more vehicles of the "without a roof" version were built.

But despite all the Italian elegance of the designer, it remained a "Beetle in sports clothing" – always driven by the most powerful, air-cooled boxer engine currently available out of Wolfsburg, performance developed from a very moderate 30 PS in 1955 to an 50 PS from 1600 ccm in 1974. That was a lot of horsepower, way back then.

Karmann small series competence grows over and above Wolfsburg
At the end of the 1960s other manufacturers started to place orders at Osnabrück, in particular to develop cabriolets or small series models. Karmann was knocking on the door of the automobile aristocracy, making the four-seater Audi 100 for the Ingolstadt company. Karmann developed the "Volksporsche" 914/4 alongside Porsche and Volkswagen. Only recently has the allure of his designs been rediscovered: bauhausesque frugality, characteristic folding headlights and the clear, horizontal contours at the rear.

Production of the Beetle and Karmann Ghia cabriolets bumper to bumper

„Flower Power" with the „Karmann GF"-Buggy

"Without a roof" – Osnabrück beach life
At this time beach cars from California - better known as "buggys" – ventured across the Atlantic. Here too, Karmann was ahead of its time. Already in 1970 it developed the "Gypsy" in Osnabrück, inspired by the success of the similarly conceived French models designed for the beaches of the Côte d´Azur. A plastic body was set on the floor panel of a Volkswagen Beetle: robust, easy to wash and totally open. However, apart from a few prototypes, only brochures were ever produced. But, just a year later, Karmann made use of an idea from a readers' competition in the car magazine.

Initially available only as an assembly set for around 3,000 DM, by 1977 assembled models had also come onto the market, and were seen on the streets well into the 1980s.

Strawberry basket with handles
Volkswagen finally introduced the long-awaited successor to the Beetle when it presented the Golf I in 1974. The end now loomed for the open-top Beetle. Karmann therefore took the initiative and developed a cabriolet on the basis of the Golf – still without the famous "handles" on the "strawberry basket". At the 1976 presentation in Wolfsburg, the then Head of Volkswagen Development immediately gave the green light to commence production – "but not without a bar". In order to be successful on the world market, cabrios of this period – such as the Porsche 911 Targa – required an appropriate "handle".

The safety bar Karmann designed was subject to heated debate right from its presentation in 1979 – but it proved to be no obstacle to success. In just 12 years the Golf, with its "fabric hat", overtook its predecessor as the most-produced cabriolet in the world. It received some visual upgrades and survived two Golf generations, and by 1993 a total of 388,525 had been produced. The direct successor also skipped a model change of the closed version and kept on until 2001, with over 200,000 rolling off the production line in Osnabrück.

Basket of strawberries” - because of the “handle” (the noticeable roll-bar) and the body shape, the Golf convertible MK 1 earned this nickname

Coming together of three cabriolet generations from Osnabrück: Volkswagen Golf I, Beetle and Golf III.

The last "Karmann"
The years 2001 to 2009 signalled the end the of Karmann GmbH's independence. Too many clients withdrew development and production capacity. Even with the production of Mercedes Benz CLK models and the Chrysler Crossfire, as well as their own innovations – including the development of modern roof mechanisms – the company was unable to turn back the tide. Liquidity dwindled. On 23 June 2009 the last real "Karmann" left the production halls. With the establishment of the Volkswagen Osnabrück GmbH in December 2009 and the transfer of the most important production materials, the Wolfsburg Group secured the legendary skill of the "Karmänner" in cabriolet and Small series manufacture.

Karmann expertise for the Volkswagen Group
After a 10 year wait the production of a new Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet started in 2011. For five years an open-top golf without "handles" was available on the market.

Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet (2011)

Porsche also relocated the production of the Cayman in 2012 to the site in Lower Saxony, and in doing so secured more than jobs. The agile and fleet-footed sports car is still a best seller in the Stuttgart company's catalogue today. The raucous noise of the mid-mounted engine in particular is a blast from the past and reminiscent of the 914, the Volkswagen Porsche which was also manufactured at Karmann.

On 17 April 2014 Volkswagen went on to begin with the production of what was at the time a technical flagship project for the Group, the "one-litre-car" XL1. In contrast to the current production of the Porsche Cayman in Osnabrück or the Tiguan I, which is due to expire, the small series of the XL1 did not start in a hall the size of a football pitch. The space resembled much more the Bugatti studio in Molsheim.

Wilhelm Karmann would have given even this technology pioneer a fabric hat, some comment winkingly in Osnabrueck. Who knows. However he would have been proud that the "open-top" T-Roc, shortly to become the only cabriolet from the Volkswagen brand, will be built at his Osnabrück location.

Porsche Cayman (2017) in its element

Volkswagen XL1 manufacture