VW’s Karmann Ghia turns 60 this year, so the automaker has released a video which retraces the important moments in the car’s history.
Launched in 1955, the Karmann Ghia is a pretty important model for VW, as it was the automaker’s third model after the Beetle and the Type 2 van. Without the Karmann Ghia, it’s uncertain whether VW would have developed into the global automotive powerhouse that it is today.
The idea of a sporty car based on the Beetle came to coach-builder Wilhelm Karmann, who hired Luigi Segre of Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin to turn his vision into reality.
When he showed the prototype to VW’s boss Heinrich Nordhoff, he loved it and decided to build it. The car proved to be a success, with VW building 450,000 Karmann Ghias between 1955 and 1974, all based on the Beetle platform. 80,881 of them were cabriolets. Scroll down to find out the Karmann Ghia’s history from VW’s official video.