Trabant

File:Trabant 601 Mulhouse FRA 001.JPG

File:Trabant 601S Universal 1984 II.jpg

The German word Trabant, derived from Middle High German drabant, means 'satellite' or 'companion'.{{efn|According to Elof Hellquist's Svensk etymologisk ordbok (Swedish Etymological Dictionary, {{ISBN|91-40-01978-0}}), the word also exists in Low German dravant, French trabant and Italian trabante but its origin is unknown: "It is not even certain whether the Romance words have been borrowed from the German, or vice versa."{{Cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/display.pl?mode=facsimile&work=svetym&page=0187|title=99 (Svensk etymologisk ordbok)|date=1922|website=runeberg.org|language=sv|access-date=28 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055443/http://runeberg.org/display.pl?mode=facsimile&work=svetym&page=0187|archive-date=7 November 2017}} {{in lang|sv}}}} The car's name was inspired by the Soviet Sputnik satellite.{{cite news |author=James, Kyle |date=19 May 2007 |title=Go, Trabi, Go! East Germany's Darling Car Turns 50 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2542584,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911072830/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2542584,00.html |archive-date=11 September 2007 }}{{cite book | first=Raymond G. | last=Stokes | chapter=Plastics and the New Society: The German Democratic Republic in the 1950s and 1960s | editor-last =Reid | editor-first =Susan E. | editor2-last =Crowley | editor2-first =David | title = Style and Socialism: Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe | publisher = Berg | location=Oxford, U.K.; New York, N.Y. | date=2000 | isbn=1-85973-239-9 | oclc=898724665 }} The cars are often referred to as "Trabbi" or "Trabi". Produced without major changes for nearly 30 years, the Trabant became the most common automobile in East Germany. It came to symbolise the country during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, as images of East Germans crossing the border into West Germany were broadcast around the globe.{{cite news|last=Williams |first=Adam |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/06/news/trabi.php |title=The 'Trabi' automobile, once a symbol of East Germany, to be revived |newspaper=International Herald Tribune |agency=Reuters |date=6 September 2007 |access-date=17 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204094054/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/06/news/trabi.php |archive-date=4 December 2008 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2773343,00.html |title=German Firm Plans to Launch Revamped Trabant |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=7 September 2007 |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224161159/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2773343,00.html |archive-date=24 February 2009 }}

Manufactured by a state monopoly, a Trabant took about ten years to acquire.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/culture/commuting/the-12-worst-cars-ever-built/article4392663/|title=The 12 worst cars ever built|date=January 2010|website=The Globe and Mail|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}} East German buyers were placed on a waiting list of up to thirteen years. The waiting time depended on their proximity to Berlin, the capital. Official state price was 7,450 GDR marks and the demand to production ratio was forty three to one (1989){{CN|date=April 2025}}. The free market price for a second-hand one was more than twice the price of a new one, and the average worker had to wait ten to thirteen years on a waiting list, or, if available, pay more than double for a second hand model.

File:Trabant 2.JPG

The Trabant had a steel frame, with the roof, boot lid, bonnet, wings and doors made of duroplast, a hard plastic made from recycled cotton waste from the Soviet Union and phenol resins from the East German dye industry. It was the second car with a body made of recycled material; the first was the AWZ P70 Zwickau, produced from 1955 to 1959. The material was durable, and the average lifespan of a Trabant was 28 years.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript402.htm#4 |title=Special From Germany: Show 402 |work=Scientific American Frontiers |publisher=PBS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703075913/http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript402.htm |archive-date=3 July 2015}}

The Trabant's build quality was poor, and it was loud and slow.{{Cite journal|url=https://academic.oup.com/hwj/article/68/1/27/661625|title=The Trabant: Consumption, Eigen-Sinn, and Movement|volume = 68 | issue = 1 | date=18 September 2009|first = Eli | last = Rubin | journal = History Workshop Journal |pages=27–44|doi=10.1093/hwj/dbp016| issn = 1363-3554 |doi-access = free |url-access = subscription }}{{Cite web|url=http://blog.consumerguide.com/driving-a-trabant-the-worst-automotive-monstrosity-known-to-the-modern-world/|title=Driving a Trabant|last=Cotta|first=Rick|date=15 July 2013 }}

The car had four principal variants:

• The Trabant P 50, also known as the Trabant 500 (produced 1957–1962)
• The Trabant 600 (1962–1965)
• The Trabant 601 (1964–1990)
• The Trabant 1.1, produced in 1990–1991 with a {{convert|1043|cc|cid|lk=on|abbr=on|adj=on}} VW engine

File:Trabant Engine Block.jpg engine]]

The engine for the 500, 600 and the original 601 was a small two-stroke engine with two cylinders, accounting for the vehicle's modest performance. Its curb weight was about {{convert|600|kg|0|abbr=on}}. When it ceased production in 1989, the Trabant delivered {{cvt|26|PS|kW|0}}PS = Pferdestärke = metric horsepower = 0.9863 horsepower (US) from {{cvt|594|cc|cid}} displacement.

It took 21 seconds to accelerate from zero to its top speed of {{cvt|100|km/h}}.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |title=BBC |publisher=BBC |date=1 January 2007 |access-date=14 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116073526/http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |archive-date=16 January 2014 }}{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |title=carfolio.com |publisher=carfolio.com |date=28 February 2013 |access-date=2 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116073526/http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |archive-date=16 January 2014 }}

The engine produced a very smoky exhaust and was a significant source of air pollution – nine times the hydrocarbons and five times the carbon-monoxide emissions of the average 2007 European car. Its fuel consumption was {{convert|7|L/100 km|abbr=on}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.transtrabant.cz/small-car/ |title=Trans National Trabant Tour 2007 |publisher=Transtrabant.cz |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718185212/http://www.transtrabant.cz/small-car/ |archive-date=18 July 2011 }} Since the engine was two-stroke, oil had to be added to the {{convert|24|L|U.S.gal impgal|adj=on}} fuel tank{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/2722019/Anyone-for-Trabants.html |title=Daily Telegraph |work=Telegraph|date=3 May 2003 |access-date=2 December 2010 |location=London |first=Bernard |last=Silk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023035525/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/2722019/Anyone-for-Trabants.html |archive-date=23 October 2011 }} at a 50:1 (or 33:1) ratio of fuel to oil at each fill-up. Contemporary gas stations in countries where two-stroke engines were common sold a premixed gas-oil mixture at the pump. Because the Trabant had no fuel pump, its fuel tank was above the engine so fuel could reach the carburettor by gravity; this increased the risk of fire in front-end accidents. Earlier models had no fuel gauge, and a dipstick was inserted into the tank to determine how much fuel remained.

Known for its dull colour scheme and cramped, uncomfortable ride, the Trabant is an object of ridicule for many Germans and is regarded as symbolic of the fall of the Eastern Bloc.{{cite news |author=Hockenos, Paul |date=7 November 2014 |title=Berlin Welcomes Back the Trabant, if Only for a Day |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/automobiles/berlin-welcomes-back-the-trabant-if-only-for-a-day.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107061453/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/automobiles/berlin-welcomes-back-the-trabant-if-only-for-a-day.html |archive-date=7 November 2017 }} Known as a "spark plug with a roof" because of its small size, the car did gain public affection.

Its design remained essentially unchanged from its introduction in the late 1950s, and the last model was introduced in 1990. The 1980s model had no tachometer, no indicator for either the headlights or turn signals, no fuel gauge, no rear seat belts, no external fuel door, and drivers had to pour a mix of gasoline and oil into a tank located directly under the bonnet/hood.{{Better source needed|date=May 2025}} The Trabant 1.1 did have major changes including changing the engine and increasing fuel efficiency, although with imported components. For comparison, the West German Volkswagen Beetle received a number of updates (including improvements in efficiency) over a similar period.{{cite book|author=Richard Stroup|title=Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know about Economics and the Environment|publisher=Cato Institute|url=https://archive.org/details/economics00rich|url-access=registration|year=2003|page=[https://archive.org/details/economics00rich/page/32 32]|isbn=978-1-930865-44-0}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}

VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau had its origins in the former Auto Union/DKW business which had operated out of the site prior to the war, and the company's first products were essentially copies of pre-war DKW designs. Following the partition of Germany, Auto Union re-established itself in West Germany (ultimately evolving into Audi), leaving VEB Sachsenring with the two stroke engine inherited from DKW.

The Trabant was the result of a planning process which had been intended to design a three-wheeled motorcycle. In German, Trabant is an astronomical term for a moon (or other natural satellite) of a celestial body.{{cite web|url=http://www.interglot.com/dictionary/de/en/translate/Trabant|title=Translate Trabant from German to English|website=www.interglot.com|access-date=9 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007021005/http://www.interglot.com/dictionary/de/en/translate/Trabant|archive-date=7 October 2017}}

File:Trabant P50.jpg

The first of the Trabants left the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau factory in Saxony on 7 November 1957. It was a relatively advanced car when it was formally introduced the following year, with front wheel drive, unitary construction and independent suspension. The Trabant's greatest shortcoming was its engine. By the late 1950s, many small West European cars (such as the Renault) had cleaner, more-efficient four-stroke engines, but budgetary constraints and raw-materials shortages mandated an outdated (but inexpensive) two-stroke engine in the Trabant. It was technically equivalent to the West German Lloyd automobile, a similarly sized car with an air-cooled, two-cylinder four-stroke engine. The Trabant had a front, transversely mounted engine and front-wheel drive in an era when many European cars were using rear-mounted engines or front-mounted engines with rear-wheel drive. Its greatest drawback was its largely unchanged production; the car's two-stroke engine made it obsolete by the 1970s, limiting exports to Western Europe.

The Trabant's air-cooled, {{convert|500|cc|cid|abbr=on|adj=on}} engine—upgraded to {{convert|600|cc|cid|abbr=on|adj=on}} in 1962–63—was derived from a pre-war DKW design with minor alterations during its production run. The first Saab car had a larger (764 cc), water-cooled, two-cylinder two-stroke engine. Wartburg, an East German manufacturer of larger sedans, also used a water-cooled, three-cylinder, {{convert|1000|cc|cid|lk=on|abbr=on|adj=on}}, two-stroke DKW engine.

The original Trabant, introduced in 1958, was the P 50. Trabant's base model, it shared a large number of interchangeable parts with the latest 1.1s. The 500 cc, {{convert|17|PS|kW|0|abbr=on}} P50 evolved into a {{convert|20|PS|kW|0|abbr=on}} version with a fully synchronised gearbox in 1960, and received a {{cvt|23|PS}}, {{convert|600|cc|cid|abbr=on}} engine in 1962 as the P 60.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B0503-0015-001, Sachsenring Trabant 601.jpg

The updated P601 was introduced in 1964. It was essentially a facelift of the P 60, with a different front fascia, bonnet, roof and rear and the original P50 underpinnings. The model remained nearly unchanged until the end of its production except for the addition of 12V electricity, rear coil springs and an updated dashboard for later models.

File:Trabant P1100 front 20040924.jpg

The Trabant's designers expected production to extend until 1967 at the latest, and East German designers and engineers created a series of more-sophisticated prototypes intended to replace the P601; several are displayed at the Dresden Transport Museum. Each proposal for a new model was rejected by the East German government due to shortages of the raw materials required in larger quantities for the more-advanced designs. As a result, the Trabant remained largely unchanged for more than a quarter-century. Also unchanged was its production method, which was extremely labour-intensive.

Production started from 34,000 p.a. in 1964, reached 100,000 p.a. in 1973, to a high of 150,000 in 1989.

The Trabant 1.1 was a 601 with a better-performing 1.05-litre ({{convert|1050|cc|cid|abbr=on|disp=out}}), {{cvt|45|PS}} VW Polo engine. With a slightly modified look (including a floor-mounted gearshift), it was quieter and cleaner than its predecessor. The 1.1 had front disc brakes, and its wheel assembly was borrowed from Volkswagen. It was produced from 1989 to 1991, in parallel with the two-stroke P601. Except for the engine and transmission, many parts from older P50s, P60s and 601s were compatible with the 1.1.

File:Checkpoint Charlie Nov. 1989, Ostberliner überqueren zum ersten Mal die Grenze nach Westberlin ohne Grenzkontrolle. DF-ST-91-01399.jpg in 1989, Checkpoint Charlie]]

File:Trabant 1.1.jpg four-stroke engine]]

In mid-1989, thousands of East Germans began loading their Trabants with as much as they could carry and drove to Hungary or Czechoslovakia en route to West Germany–the so-called "Trabi Trail". Many had to get special permission to drive their Trabants into West Germany. The cars did not meet West German emissions standards and polluted the air at four times the European average.{{cite book|last=Sebetsyen|first=Victor|title=Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire|publisher=Pantheon Books|location=New York City|year=2009|isbn=978-0-375-42532-5|url=https://archive.org/details/revolution1989fa00sebe}}

A licensed version of the Volkswagen Polo engine replaced the Trabant's two-stroke engine, the result of a trade agreement between East and West Germany. The first prototypes were built in 1988, with pre-series cars appearing in 1989, but series production only began in May 1990 - By which time the two German states had already agreed to reunification. The locally built EA111-series engine was given the model code BM 820 by the East Germans; the plant also made 1.3-litre versions for the Wartburg 1.3 (BM 860) and the Barkas utility vehicle (BM 880).{{cite journal | url = http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/13998/DBGT28_2003Kirchberg.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151220174611/http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/13998/DBGT28_2003Kirchberg.pdf | archive-date = 2015-12-20 | title = Die Implantation des VW-Motors in den DDR-Automobilbau. Ein Bericht zur Innovationsgeschichte der DDR | trans-title = The installation of VW engines in East German cars: An episode in the history of East German innovations | language = de | first = Peter | last = Kirchberg | issue = 128 | journal = Dresdener Beiträge zur Geschichte der Technikwissenschaften | page = 129 | date = 2003 }} The model, the Trabant 1.1, also had minor improvements to its brake and signal lights, a renovated grille, and MacPherson struts instead of a leaf-spring-suspended chassis.

By April 1991, after only eleven months, the Trabant 1.1 was discontinued. In total, 3.7 million Trabant vehicles had been produced.{{Cite web | url = http://krasivmir.tk/?p=361 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110414143248/http://krasivmir.tk/?p=361 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 14 April 2011 | title = Trabant}} However, it soon became apparent that there was no place for the Trabant in a reunified German economy. Its inefficient, labour-intensive production line had only survived thanks to government subsidies.

The Zwickau factory in Mosel (where the Trabant was manufactured) was sold to Volkswagen AG; the rest of the company became HQM Sachsenring GmbH. Volkswagen redeveloped the Zwickau factory into a centre for engine production; it also produces some Volkswagen Golfs and Passats.

File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F086568-0046, Leipzig, ausgeschlachteter PKW Trabant (Trabbi).jpg, 1990). A Volkswagen Golf can be seen parked in the background. Private brands like Volkswagen spilled over into East Germany after its state-owned auto industry collapsed.]]

File:Trabi World (Berlin-Mitte 2013) 1209-1089-(120).jpg

According to Richard Leiby, the Trabant had become "a symbol of the technological and social backwardness of the East German state."{{cite book|author=Richard A. Leiby|title=The Unification of Germany, 1989–1990|url=https://archive.org/details/unificationofger00leib|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood|page=[https://archive.org/details/unificationofger00leib/page/185 185]|isbn=978-0-313-29969-8}} Trabants became a symbol of the GDR's serious flaws in the West after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when many were abandoned by their Eastern owners who migrated west. Unlike the Lada Niva, Škoda Estelle, Polski Fiat (design licensed from the Italian car manufacturer) and Yugo, the Trabant had negligible sales in Western Europe.

A Trabant could be bought for as little as a few Deutsche Marks during the early 1990s, and many were given away. Although prices recovered as they became collectors' items, they remain inexpensive cars. In her Bodywork project, performance artist Liz Cohen transformed a 1987 Trabant into a 1973 Chevrolet El Camino.{{cite news

|last = Keats

|first = Jonathon

|title = High-Performance Artist

|publisher = Wired

|date = July 2003

|url = https://www.wired.com/2003/07/high-performance-artist/

|access-date = 1 December 2016

|url-status = live

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161201143910/https://www.wired.com/2003/07/high-performance-artist/

|archive-date = 1 December 2016

}} The Trabant was planned to return to production in Uzbekistan as the Olimp during the late 1990s,{{cite web |url=http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/1997/08/16/050.html |title=Trabant Clunks Back to Life |publisher=Moscowtimes.ru |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080211234731/http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/1997/08/16/050.html |archive-date=11 February 2008 }} but only one model was produced.{{cite web |url=http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/eco343/040Compecon/Soviet/Uzbek/040900autos.txt |title=Automobile Industry in Uzbekistan |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110703225339/http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/eco343/040Compecon/Soviet/Uzbek/040900autos.txt |archive-date=3 July 2011 }}

File:Trabant P50 or 60 during the First Trabant Rally.jpg

Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister and Atlantic Club of Bulgaria founding president Solomon Passy owned a Trabant which was blessed by Pope John Paul II in 2002 and in which he took NATO Secretaries General Manfred Wörner, George Robertson, and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for rides. In 2005, Passy donated the vehicle (which had become symbolic of Bulgaria's NATO accession) to the National Historical Museum of Bulgaria.{{cite news|url=http://www.vesti.bg/?tid=40&oid=752914|title=Соломон Паси подари трабанта си на НИМ|date=13 July 2005|publisher=Вести|language=bg|access-date=13 November 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718003113/http://www.vesti.bg/?tid=40&oid=752914|archive-date=18 July 2011}} In 1997, the Trabant was celebrated for passing the moose test without rolling over, as the Mercedes-Benz W168 had; a Thuringian newspaper's headline read, "Come and get us, moose! Trabi passes A-Class killer test".{{cite web |url=http://news.drive.com.au/drive/new-car-comparison/petite-feat-20100824-13odc.html |title=Petite feat |publisher=drive.com.au |date=6 May 2005 |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325180528/http://news.drive.com.au/drive/new-car-comparison/petite-feat-20100824-13odc.html |archive-date=25 March 2012 }}

The Trabant entered the world of diplomacy in 2007 when Steven Fisher, deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Budapest, used a 1.1 (painted as close to British racing green as possible) as his diplomatic car.{{cite web |url=http://www.politics.hu/20081204/british-deputy-ambassadors-ride-small-and-green |title=British Deputy Ambassador's ride small and green |publisher=Politics.Hu |access-date=28 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721112943/http://www.politics.hu/20081204/british-deputy-ambassadors-ride-small-and-green/ |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}{{Cite web | url = http://totalcar.hu/magazin/szerelem/drtrabi/ | title = A brit nagykövethelyettes Trabantja ("The British Deputy Ambassador's Trabant") | publisher = TotalCar.hu Ltd. | first = Csikós | last = Zsolt | date = 10 November 2008 | access-date = 5 October 2012 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110812132127/http://totalcar.hu/magazin/szerelem/drtrabi/ | archive-date = 12 August 2011}} American Trabant owners celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall with the Parade of Trabants, an annual early-November rally held in Washington, D.C. The event, sponsored by the privately owned International Spy Museum, includes street tours in Trabants, rides, live German music and displays about East Germany.{{cite web|date=7 November 2020|title=14th Annual Parade of Trabants|url=https://www.spymuseum.org/past-events/14th-annual-parade-of-trabants-virtual/2020-11-07/|access-date=15 April 2021|website=International Spy Museum|publisher=International Spy Museum}}

The Herpa company, a Bavarian miniature-vehicle manufacturer, bought the rights to the Trabant name and showed a scale model of a "newTrabi" at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Plans for production included a limited run, possibly with a BMW engine.{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Adam |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/world/europe/06iht-trabi.4.7409536.html?_r=0 |title=The 'Trabi' automobile, once a symbol of East Germany, to be revived |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 September 2007 |access-date=5 October 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113043549/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/world/europe/06iht-trabi.4.7409536.html?_r=0 |archive-date=13 January 2015 }} A Trabant nT model was unveiled two years later in Frankfurt.{{cite web |title=Photo Gallery: Electric Trabant Unveiled at Frankfurt Motor Show |url=http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-electric-trabant-unveiled-at-frankfurt-motor-show-fotostrecke-46708.html |publisher=Spiegel Online |date=16 September 2009 |access-date=5 October 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329000227/http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-electric-trabant-unveiled-at-frankfurt-motor-show-fotostrecke-46708.html |archive-date=29 March 2014 }}

The Trabant nT consortium includes Herpa, the German specialized-auto-parts manufacturer IndiKar and the German automobile-engineering company IAV.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8201313.stm |title=German group develops new Trabant |publisher=news.bbc.co.uk |access-date=14 August 2009 | date=14 August 2009 | location=London}} The group was looking for investment, design and production in the Trabant's original hometown of Zwickau,{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/frankfurt-motor-show/6023813/Smoke-belching-Trabant-to-be-reborn-as-electric-car.html |title=Smoke-belching Trabant to be reborn as electric car |work=telegraph|date=14 August 2009 |access-date=14 August 2009 |location=London |first=Allan |last=Hall |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817230516/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/frankfurt-motor-show/6023813/Smoke-belching-Trabant-to-be-reborn-as-electric-car.html |archive-date=17 August 2009 }} with sales "in 2012".{{cite web |url=http://www.trabant-nt.de/374/en/the-project/trabant-nt.aspx |title=The "newTrabi" idea becomes the "Trabant nT" concept car |publisher=Trabant nT GmbH |access-date=5 October 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905125455/http://www.trabant-nt.de/374/en/the-project/trabant-nt.aspx |archive-date=5 September 2012 }} The Trabant nT electric car would be equipped with a {{Convert|45|kW|hp PS|0|abbr=on}} asynchronous motor powered by a lithium-ion battery.{{cite web |url=http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-cars-all-electric-trabant-nt-gears-to-clean-20-year-old-mess |title=Eco Cars: All-electric Trabant NT Gears To Clean 20-year-old Mess |publisher=Ecofriend |date=17 September 2009 |access-date=14 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923140153/http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-cars-all-electric-trabant-nt-gears-to-clean-20-year-old-mess |archive-date=23 September 2009 }}

File:Fotothek df ps 0002918 Stadt ^ Stadtlandschaften ^ Camping.jpg in Dresden (Saxony) in 1961]]

File:16. Oldtimertreffen Hartmannsdorf - Trabant 1,1 Tramp links.jpg

• P 50: Later known as the 500 (Limousine and Universal [Combi])
• 600 (Limousine and Universal)
• 601 Standard (Limousine, Universal)
• 601S (Sonderwunsch; Special Edition) with fog lamps, a rear white light and an odometer
• 601 DeLuxe: Similar to the 601S, with two colours and a chrome bumper
• 601 Kübel: Doorless jeep with a folding roof, auxiliary heating system and RFI-shielded ignition
• 601 Tramp: Civilian version of the Kübel, primarily exported to Greece
• 601 Hycomat: For drivers unable to use their left leg, with an automatic clutch
• 800RS: Rally version
• 1.1: Limousine, Universal and Tramp (convertible)

Dozens of prototypes have been created over the years that have not gone into mass production.

• 1954 Trabant P50 prototype{{cite web| url = https://www.paul-wouters.nl/trabantschema.htm| title = Trabant-modellen inclusief voorlopers en prototypen paul-wouters.nl/}}
• 1954 Trabant P50 Universal prototype
• 1961 Trabant P100
• 1965 Trabant P602V
• 1967 Trabant P603 Prototype
• 1970 Trabant P760
• 1971 Trabant P610 Prototype
• 1981 Trabant P601 Z
• 1982 Trabant 601 WE II Prototype{{cite web| url = https://www.favcars.com/trabant-601-we-ii-prototype-1982-pictures-44078| title = Trabant 601 WE II Prototype 1982 pictures favcars.com}}
• 1988 Trabant 1.1 E

Non official prototypes:

• 2009 Trabant nT Concept
• 2022 Trabant P50e Concept

P 50.jpg|Trabant P 50

P 1.1 Trabant Kubelwagen.jpg|Trabant P 1.1 Kubelwagen

P 601 Trabant WE II - front.jpg|Trabant P 601 WE II

Trabant500Pickup.jpg|Trabant 500 Pickup

Trabant P50 Kombi vr bicolor TCE.jpg|Trabant P 50 Kombi

Trabant nT.JPG|Trabant nT

File:DSCF0008trabant.JPG|alt=Yellow station wagon with advertising|A "billboard on wheels" in Prague

File:Trabant Feuerwehrversion.jpg|alt=Red-and-white station wagon|Outfitted for volunteer firefighting

File:Trabant Polizeiversion.jpg|alt=Green-and-white police car|Police car used for public relations in Bremen

File:Trans Trabant 2009 6063.JPG|alt=Two yellow cars with their drivers shaking hands|Leaving for a 2009 trip from Prague to Cape Town

File:1,75 Trabi 601 - 1.jpg|alt=Matching station wagon and trailer|601 with homemade trailer

File:Trabant 600 Kombi hr.jpg|alt=White-and-red station wagon|600 universal

File:Berlin Wall Trabant grafitti.jpg|alt=See caption|Graffiti of a Trabant driving through the Berlin Wall

File:Trabant601K.jpg|alt=White station wagon|601S universal, with sliding roof

File:Trabant601.jpg|alt=White sedan|601 Deluxe limousine

File:Trabant 601 Kübelwagen.JPG|alt=Green jeep|601 Kübel

File:Trabant 1.1 Universal (02).JPG|alt=White station wagon|1.1 universal

File:East Berlin Trabant Foursome.png|Trabants in an East Berlin, East Germany parking lot during the freedom summer of 1990 (between the fall of The Wall and German Reunification)

File:Trabant a Monaco MC.jpg|Trabant registered Monte Carlo (av.Grimaldi-2023)

{{portal|Cars|East Germany}}

• August Horch Museum Zwickau
• Jokes about the Trabant
• List of automobiles known for negative reception
• Ostalgie
• Soybean car
• Yugo

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Berdahl, Daphne. "'Go, Trabi, Go!': Reflections on a Car and Its Symbolization over Time." Anthropology and Humanism 25.2 (2000): 131–141. [http://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2013/SOC762/re/s3/Berdahl__2001__Go_Trabi_Go._Reflections_on_a_Car_and_Its_Symbolization_over_Time._Anthropology_and_Humanism_25_2__131-141.pdf online]
• Rubin, Eli. "The Trabant: Consumption, Eigen-Sinn, and Movement." History Workshop Journal (2009) 68#1 pp 27–44. [https://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/content/68/1/27.full online]
• Zatlin, Jonathan R. "The vehicle of desire: The Trabant, the Wartburg, and the end of the GDR." German History 15.3 (1997): 358–380. [http://gh.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/3/358.short online]
• {{citation|surname1=Lisse, Jürgen|title=Fahrzeuglexikon Trabant |edition=2. erweiterte|publisher=Bildverlag Böttger|location=Witzschdorf|year=2010|isbn=978-3-937496-34-4|language=de}}
• {{citation|surname1=Röcke, Matthias|title=Die Trabi-Story. Der Dauerbrenner aus Zwickau |publisher=Parragon|location=Bath|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4454-6266-0|language=de|id=vormals in zwei Auflagen erschienen im Heel Verlag}}
• {{citation|surname1=Stiegler, Theo|title=Der Trabant wird 50! In guten wie in schlechten Zeiten |publisher=edition Sächsische Zeitung/Saxo’Phon|location=Dresden|year=2007|isbn=978-3-938325-36-0|language=de}}
• {{Cite book|title=The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall|last=Sarotte|first=Mary Elise|publisher=Basic Books|year=2014|location=New York|pages=291|isbn=978-0-465-06494-6|language=en}}

{{External links|date=August 2020}}

{{Commons and category|Trabant|Trabant}}

• [http://www.ifaclub.co.uk/ UK-based official Wartburg, Trabant and IFA owners' club]
• [http://www.trabantforums.com/ TrabantForums] TrabantForums.com
• [http://www.gizmohighway.com/autos/trabant.htm History of the Trabant]
• [http://totalcarmagazine.com/eastofeden/2013/09/18/the_story_behind_east_germany_s_iconic_trabant/ The story behind Trabant]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121017123108/http://home.clara.net/peterfrost/trabant.html Sachsenring Trabant site]
• [http://www.ifavereniging.nl/ IFA Mobile 2-takt Vereniging, de oudste vereniging voor Oost-Duitse auto's]
• [http://www.trabant.cz/ Trabant history and prospects] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130052052/http://trabant.cz/ |date=30 January 2009 }}
• [http://trabantberlin.de/unsere-oldtimer/p601s-rudi/ Technical Data and additional Information about Trabant 601.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119043823/http://trabantberlin.de/unsere-oldtimer/p601s-rudi/ |date=19 November 2010 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150512225839/http://www.team.net/www/ktud/601_1.html Technical details and pictures of the Trabant 601]
• [http://micromaniacsclub.co.uk/ British microcar club that welcomes trabant owners and drivers]
• [http://www.ausedcar.com/blog/trabant-east-germanys-finest.html Trabant – East Germany's Finest]

;Media

• [http://www.601.pl/ Interactive presentation of Red Pearl Trabant 601z]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071025031530/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9158103117341857527 Trabant TV ad] at Google Videos
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110627063110/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6220796499007505990 Trabant test drive] at Google Videos
• {{YouTube|id=BqAs3KOwzLs|title=Production of the Trabant car (Final Quality Testing)}}

{{Automotive industry in Germany}}

{{Authority control}}

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