November 25th, 2009 by NZ Classic Car
Volkswagen AG has announced it will be establishing a new manufacturing unit located in VW’s home state of Lower Saxony, Germany. To make it happen VW have purchased the land, equipment, and machinery formerly owned by Karmann – the once iconic coachbuilder and convertible roof specialists who manufactured the classic Beetle-based Karmann Ghia coupe. Karmann has been in financial difficulty for a while, filing for bankruptcy protection back in April, and struggling since.
Production of a new vehicle at the plant is scheduled to begin in 2011. In the meantime, 200 new employees will be required to open the plant next year, and VW is estimating more than 1,000 new jobs will be created by 2014. Volkswagen AG has not disclosed which model will be built at the plant but early speculation is that a new Golf cabriolet may be in the works.
November 27th, 2008 by NZ Classic Car
Gordon enjoys a sunny afternoon in the company of two Hillman Minx cabriolets
I enjoy life’s little twists. Like the time a metallic green Hillman Minx Cabriolet, registered number 52M1NX, turned a corner in front of me as I walked home from work. I took a guess at where it had come from and asked a nearby panel and paint business if they knew the car.
“Oh yes, we’ve done a bit of work on that car, it belongs to David Klue.”
From there I tracked David down to his business in a Palmerston North side street. He was suitably impressed by ¨NZ Classic Car’s follow-up service, thinking I was visiting him about the advertisement he had just placed with the magazine to sell his MG TD. That confusion sorted, he took me to the large storage area behind his premises where his Minx was stored. Only, this car was metallic grey and registered 52MINX! The car I had seen belonged to his good friend John Edmonds.
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