Volkswagen Deal with Karmann to Be Decided in Two Weeks

Without founding, German coachbuilder and convertible roof-top specialist is about to close business in early November. The company had a real important relationship with Volkswagen in the past, and it is known for building the famous Karmann Ghia coupe based on the chassis of the old Beetle.

Thru the past months, negotiation has been carried out by the two companies as Volkswagen had shown interest in buying Karmann, so the faith of the company is still uncertain, but Volkswagen officials said that all will be decided in the next two weeks.

“We in Lower Saxony are very interested in preserving jobs,” said Volkswagen AG CEO Martin Winterkorn in an interview with Autonews (VW has its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony). After drastic job cuts in recent months, there are 1,700 workers remaining at Karmann.

The main problem seems to be the very low amount Volkswagen has bid: a low double-digit million euros sum for Karmann, considerably less than the 65 million euros the owning families are looking to get.

Some of the great projects Karmann brought to the auto industry is the retractable hardtop first introduced with the Mercedes-Benz SLK. The idea was later copied by competitors and used on very popular cars like the Peugeot 206 CC. But after delivering it’s last Mercedes CLK in June, Karmann was left out of business.

According to some sources, several other parties besides Volkswagen have already expressed their interest into acquiring the manufacturer.