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