Amag Classic Day: When cars were still made in Amag

Switzerland does not have a car production? That’s true now, but it was different back in the day. Today, Amag is known as the largest Swiss importer of cars from Audi, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen and others. In 1948, 74 years ago, the company began importing and selling the legendary Volkswagen Beetle. The cars were also built at the Amag site in Schinznach-Bad AG from 1949: models of the American brands Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Standard, Studebaker and VW Karmann-Ghia were delivered in individual parts and assembled in Aargau.

why? Because importing finished cars from the US costs a lot more customs – unlike importing individual parts. In terms of quality, Swiss cars surpassed those assembled in the USA. But with American models getting fatter – lowering demand – and new, bigger models from the Volkswagen Group, the time for Swiss production soon ended. By 1972, about 30,000 vehicles rolled off the assembly line at Amag.