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Karmann Saved by Volkswagen?

Back in mid-June, German manufacturer Karmann, one of the biggest independent automotive manufacturers in Germany, announced it has ended production and was bracing for a painful restructuring process.

"Today, the last car built entirely by Karmann rolled off the assembly line," the company said in a release on June 22. "We could no longer avoid shutting down the vehicle assembly line because auto manufacturers' strategies have changed."

Now the story has changed...

According to a report by Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung, quoted by Bloomberg, Karmann has been pulled out of the woods by a life-saving contract awarded by Volkswagen. The contract is supposedly stating that in exchange for 10 million euro financing, Karmann will take to building electric vehicles.

Until now, neither side has confirmed the news. Even more so, Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung does not say where it got its information from, so we can only bring you this as a rumor. Yet, such a development would not be out of the question.

Karmann's downfall began a while back and accentuated as the crisis crippled the economy, combined with Mercedes' decision to terminate the CLK coupe and cabriolet lines. Whereas at the peak of its business Karmann had some 8,000 employees, the manufacturer is now left with only 2,000.

Developments on the matter are still expected because, as we all know, where's there's smoke, there's fire.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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