In August of 1955, the first Volkswagen Karmann Ghia rolled off of the assembly line in Osnabruck, Germany as 1956 models. In the early 1950s, Volkswagen was in search of a new image car to reach a new market of the buying public. What they eventually came up with was a model that was modified to fit the popular Beetle floorplan, which was indeed the Karmann Ghia.
Chrysler had the opportunity to roll out the Karmann Ghia, but instead the design went to Volkswagen.
People fell in love right away with the Karmann Ghia. They loved the design and the workmanship, but the only setback was the performance. The car had a 36 horsepower flat four engine that was being used in the Beetle at that time, which didnt seem to fit the Karmann Ghia. A common complaint was that the car looked like a sports car, but indeed did not perform like one. In the first year of sales, however, more than 10,000 of the Karmann Ghia were sold. The convertible came out a few years later, and sales went up to an average of 18,000 per year.
Each year after that, and continuing through to the late 1960s, the sales of the Karmann Ghia increased from previous years, until in the late 1960s sales peaked at 33,000 per year. The last year for production of the Karmann Ghia was 1974, when Volkswagen decided to make room for the production of the new Scirocco. The Karmann Ghia is actually a pretty rare car, with only about 366,000 coups and 79,000 convertibles having been produced.
Volkswagen attempted to convince people to focus on the beauty and design of the Karmann Ghia, hoping to dissuade consumers from focusing on the lack of engine power. The marketing strategies used were mainly ones of humor; in one commercial, the Karmann Ghia is shown racing towards a giant piece of paper like it was going to rip right through it, but instead the Karmann Ghia bounced off of the sheet of paper. Also, in a popular print ad, the Karmann Ghia was shown alongside a Maserati and a Lamborghini, with the explanation that even though the Karmann Ghia wasnt as fast, it was a lot cheaper than those other two cars.
In 1969 the Karmann Ghia was named on eof the most beautifully designed products in the world, and in June of 1972, Car and Driver magazine put it into world class status by comparing it to the Porsche Speedster. The Karmann Ghia today is one of the most highly prized, sought after air cooled engine cars of all time. The graceful, timeless, beautiful design is a forever classic, and it was the (almost) perfect affordable, reliable, and attractive car to drive.
