Wilhelm Karmann II

Wilhelm Karmann Jr. (4 December 1914 – 25 October 1998) was a German entrepreneur. He took over the management of Wilhelm Karmann GmbH based in Osnabrück in 1952 and led the company to become a recognized partner of the automotive industry as a contract manufacturer of complete vehicles and as a supplier of pressed parts, production systems and roof modules for convertibles. He was also involved in numerous vehicle developments. It was the VW Karmann-Ghia that made the name Karmann known worldwide. In 1955, Karmann presented the coupé version of the VW 1200, designed by Luigi Segre, the owner of the Italian Ghia bodywork plant in Turin, to the General Director of the Volkswagen plant, Heinrich Nordhoff. Volkswagen liked the soft lines of the coupé and this was the beginning of the worldwide success story of the Karmann-Ghia. The love for open cars accompanied Karmann throughout his life; not only the VW Beetle and then the Golf Cabriolet came from Osnabrück, but also convertibles from Audi, Ford and Mercedes as well as a variety of roof systems as component deliveries. A total of around 3 million vehicles rolled off the assembly lines under Karmann's management; not only convertibles and coupes, but also other vehicles produced in small series. In 1990, Karmann handed over the management of the company to younger hands, but accompanied and steered the company until his death in 1998 in his role as chairman of the shareholders' meeting and honorary chairman of the supervisory board of Wilhelm Karmann GmbH. Early life and education Wilhelm Karmann was born in Krefeld, the son and third of the five children of Wilhelm Karmann Sr., who had taken over the respected Osnabrück wagon manufacturing company from Christian Klages on 1 August 1901. Karmann Sr. soon made a name for himself in the still young automotive industry through innovative measures, such as the transition from wooden to semi-steel and then to all-steel bodywork. He also introduced the quick-drying nitro spray paint in 1925. Both were prerequisites for the series production of cars. He also equipped his plant with large presses and began manufacturing his own press tools. In the 1930s, Karmann sr. thus became a pioneer in the German mass production of convertibles and limousines for customers such as the Adler factories in Frankfurt/Main or Hanomag in Hanover.