While production of the CLK Coupe ceased back in January, the CLK Cabrio has been rolling off the Karmann factory floor in Osnabrück, Germany, right up until today. Karmann is an independent vehicle manufacturer specializing in convertible models and has built a number of cars for major automakers like Mercedes Benz and Audi.

Unfortunately for Karmann, the global economic crisis has hit it hard, causing a number of manufacturing contracts to dry up. This has led to the company filing for bankruptcy and as of Monday next week no more production will be taking place at Karmann until it can emerge from the bankruptcy process, reports Automotive News Europe.

As for the CLK Cabrio, the car will remain on sale until the arrival of the new E-Class Cabrio in the first half of next year. According to Mercedes, there is sufficient stock to last until that time.

Karmann, on the other hand, may have a bright future in the form of a new partnership with German electrical utility Energy Group (EWE). The two companies have stated that their goal is to "explore the integration of electric vehicles into the EWE electricity and telecommunications network", and already a concept vehicle has been produced. Given Karmann’s prickly financial state, however, it may be some time until we see the company back to full scale production.