VW Karmann Ghia 1950s Automobile

The VW Karmann Ghia 1950s automobile was an attempt to appeal to an increasingly affluent market.

The concept was initiated by Dr Wilhelm Karmann whose company was already building the VW Beetle cabriolet.

It was Karmann who suggested to Ghia, the prominent Italian car designers, that a sports car based on the VW Beetle should be built.

The idea was to use as many of the components as possible from the Beetle in the new car.
 
The VW Karmann Ghia was very much a collaboration between Volkswagen, Karmann and Ghia. Luigi Segre of Ghia was the man behind the car’s styling and the Karmann factory was to handle production. 

Production of the new vehicle was complex, as the body panels had to be butt welded, hand-shaped and then smoothed with English pewter. This led to the launch being put back from early 1955 to August that year.

Photo by Infrogmation licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.

Initially a two-door coupe, the Karmann Ghia was propelled by an 1192 cc engine producing 30 hp, somewhat lacking in power compared with its contemporaries. Engines with more power were not added until the 60s.  In 1957 a convertible was produced.

The VW Karmann Ghia was built for a discerning and specialised market. In its 19 years of production only 460,000 were built.

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