Date:         Fri, 22 Jun 2001 13:25:07 -0400
Reply-To:     Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Subject:      Westfalia now owned by Daimler-Chrysler
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Hi All,

I was in Germany the past two weeks and visited the Westfalia-werke where
they make the VW campers. It appears that the future of the VW-Westfalia
relationship is in some doubt at this time. About a year or so ago,
Westfalia was sold to D-C, and D-C is looking at Westfalia to expand the
market for Mercedes-Benz based campers.

A bit of history...the company was a family owned company until the late
80's. During the late 70's and 80's it was run by two cousins who didn't
get a long and consequently ran the business into the ground. It was picked
up by a retired German business executive who bought it to keep himself
"occupied" during retirement, and was then sold of to D-C.

The company has been split into three groups - a trailer group, an
automotive group (which makes trailer hitches) and the camper group. All
three are scattered in the same facility, but in another year or so, they
will be all in separate areas.

In the 1980's Westfalia was producing up to 200,000 units per year, the
majority being VWs (they also produce Ford and M-B campers), and at that
time about 40% of their production went to the US. Now they only produce
100,000 units per year, about evenly split between VW and M-B (Ford taking
about 20%), and the major market is Germany.

D-C wants to eventually have 100% of the production being dedicated to the
M-B campers....as of right now Westfalia needs to keep its relationships
going with VW and Ford to keep its head above water. The outlook for the
next few years is unclear....especially since VW is having trouble getting
the T5 van ready for the market and the T5 is supposed to have a camper
version....

It is quite possible that the 50 year relationship between VW and Westfalia
is nearing its end.


Ric