Contract convertible assembly specialist Karmann on Monday built its last car – a CLK convertible for Mercedes-Benz – and must now try to survive insolvency through a major restructuring.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“Today, the last car built entirely by Karmann rolled off the assembly line,” a company statement said.
Karmann, founded in 1901, has built more than 3.3m convertibles since 1949, including the famous Volkswagen Karmann Ghias and Beetles, Ford Escorts, Mercedes CLKs and Audi cabriolets.
The recent collapse of global auto markets sealed the company’s fate and it filed for insolvency on 8 April this year, saying it would focus on automotive parts production to try and stay in business.
Karmann still employs around 2,000 workers, according to news agency, AFP, down from a peak of about 8,000.
“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.
Mercedes is phasing out the CLK coupe and cabriolet model line, a spokeswoman told just-auto. She said the CLK coupe was being replaced by the recently launched E-class coupe while a convertible model was “likely” to be launched later to replace the Karmann-built car.
