The
Trabant trəˈbɑːnt is a
carČar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
that was produced by former East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in
ZwickauZwickau in Germany, former seat of the government of the south-western region of the Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region. Nowadays it is the capital city of the district of Zwickau...
, Sachsen. It was the most common vehicle in East Germany, and was also exported to countries both inside and outside the communist bloc. The main selling points was that it had room for four adults and luggage in a compact, light and durable shell and that it was fast (when introduced) and durable. With its mediocre performance, inefficient two-stroke engine, noxious fumes and production shortages, the Trabant is often cited as an example of the disadvantages of
centralized planningA planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
; on the other hand, it is regarded with derisive affection as a symbol of the failed former East Germany and of the fall of
communismCommunism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
(in former West Germany, as many East Germans streamed into
West BerlinWest Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
and
West GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in their Trabants after the opening of the
Berlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
in 1989). It was in production without any significant changes for nearly 30 years with 3,096,099 Trabants produced in total.
Overview
The name, meaning 'satellite' or 'companion ' in German, was inspired by Soviet Sputnik. The cars are often referred to as the
Trabbi or
Trabi, pronounced ˈtrɑːbi in English.
Since it could take years for a Trabant to be delivered from the time it was ordered, people who finally got one were very careful with it and usually became skillful in maintaining and repairing it. The lifespan of an average Trabant was 28 years. Used Trabants would often fetch a higher price than new ones, as the former were available immediately, while the latter required the infamous long wait.
There were four principal variants of the Trabant, the
P50, also known as the
Trabant 500, produced 1957–1962; the
Trabant 600, produced 1962–1964; the
Trabant 601The Trabant 601 was a Trabant model produced by VEB Sachsenring in Zwickau. It was the third model, built for the longest time, from 1963 to 1990....
, produced 1963–1991; and the
Trabant 1.1 produced 1990–1991 with a 1043 cc VW engine (making the "1.1" a slight misnomer). The engine for the
Trabant 500,
600 and original
601 was a small two-stroke engine with two cylinders, giving the vehicle modest performance. At the end of production in 1989 it delivered 19 kW (26
horsepowerHorsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
) from a 600 cc
displacementEngine displacement is the volume swept by all the pistons inside the cylinders of an internal combustion engine in a single movement from top dead centre to bottom dead centre . It is commonly specified in cubic centimeters , litres , or cubic inches...
. The car took 21 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) and the top speed was 112 km/h (70 mph). There were two main problems with the engine: the smoky exhaust and the pollution it produced—nine times the amount of hydrocarbons and five times the carbon monoxide emissions of the average European car of 2007. The fuel consumption was 7 l/100 km. Since the engine does not have an oil injection system, two-stroke oil has to be added to the 24 litre fuel tank every time the car was filled up, at a 50:1 or 33:1 ratio of fuel to oil. Gas stations of the time in countries where two-stroke engines were common served premixed gas-oil mixture from the pump. Today, owners normally carry a container of two-stroke oil in the car for this purpose. The earlier models have no fuel gauge; a dipstick is inserted into the tank to determine how much fuel remains.
The Trabant was a steel
monocoqueMonocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
design with roof, bootlid/trunklid, bonnet/hood, bumpers/fenders and doors in
DuroplastDuroplast is a composite thermosetting plastic, a close relative of formica and bakelite. It is a resin plastic reinforced with fibers making it a fiber-reinforced plastic similar to glass-reinforced plastic.-Uses:...
, a form of
plasticA plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
containing
resinResin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
strengthened by wool or cotton. This helped the GDR to avoid expensive steel imports but, in theory, did not provide much crash protection, although in crash tests it allegedly performed superior to some contemporary Western
hatchbackA Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...
s. Because the car lacked a fuel pump, the fuel tank was placed high up in the engine compartment so that fuel could be fed to the carburettor by gravity; a trade-off of this design is an increased fire risk in front-end accidents. The Trabant was the second car to use Duroplast, after the "pre-Trabant"
P70 (
ZwickauThe AWZ P70 "Zwickau" was a car made in East Germany by VEB Automobilwerke Zwickau between 1955 and 1958. After 1958 AWZ was united with the former Horch factory to the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau and called Sachsenring P70....
) model (1954–1959). The duroplast was made of recycled material, cotton waste from Soviet Union and phenol resins from the East German dye industry, making the Trabant the first car with a body made of recycled material.
Production of the
Trabant on April 30, 1991 reached 3.7 million vehicles.
History
The Trabant was the result of a planning process that had originally been intended to design a three-wheeled motorcycle. The name was chosen in an internal contest in 1957, the year of Sputnik, the first artificial
satelliteIn the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
. In German, a 'trabant' is an astronomical term to denote a moon or other natural satellite of a celestial body. In its Slavic origin, it has the same meaning as the Russian word 'sputnik', namely 'companion'. Previous motorcycle production at Sachsenring had been under the aegis of
AWZ (Auto-Werke
ZwickauThe AWZ P70 "Zwickau" was a car made in East Germany by VEB Automobilwerke Zwickau between 1955 and 1958. After 1958 AWZ was united with the former Horch factory to the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau and called Sachsenring P70....
).
The Trabant was a relatively advanced car when it was launched in 1958; with front wheel drive, a unitary construction, composite bodywork and independent suspension all around. The main letdown was the engine: by the late 1950s small cars in western countries mainly used cleaner and more efficient four-stroke engines, as employed in the
VolkswagenVolkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
, whereas budgetary constraints forced the use of a two-stroke engine in the Trabant. When released the Trabant was technically equivalent to the West German
LloydNorddeutsche Automobil und Motoren GmbH was a German brand created in 1908 and was owned by the Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping company. The factory was in Bremen...
automobile, which had an air cooled two-cylinder four-stroke engine in the same size vehicle.
The Trabant's air cooled two cylinder 500 cc (later 600cc) two-stroke engine was derived from a pre-war
DKWDKW is a historic German car and motorcycle marque. The name derives from Dampf-Kraft-Wagen .In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW...
design, with minor alterations being made throughout the car's production run. Wartburg, a GDR manufacturer of larger saloons, also used a
DKWDKW is a historic German car and motorcycle marque. The name derives from Dampf-Kraft-Wagen .In 1916, the Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, to produce steam fittings. In the same year, he attempted to produce a steam-driven car, called the DKW...
engine: a water-cooled 3 cylinder 1000 cc two-stroke unit, also found in earlier
SaabSaab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...
cars.
In 1958 production began of the original Trabant, the P50. This car was the base of the Trabant series, and even the latest 1.1s had a large number of interchangeable parts with this car. The 500 cc 18 hp P50 evolved into a 20 hp version in 1960, gaining a fully synchronized gearbox amongst other things, and finally got a 23 hp 600 cc engine in 1962, becoming the P60.
The updated P601 was introduced in 1964. This car was essentially a facelift of the P60, with a different front fascia, bonnet, roof and rear, whilst retaining the original P50 underpinnings.
This model stayed practically unchanged up to its production end, with the most major changes being 12v electrics, coil springs for the rear and a different dash for the latest models.
The Trabant's designers expected production to extend to 1967 at the latest, and East German designers and engineers created a series of more sophisticated prototypes through the years that were intended to replace the Trabant P601; several of these can be seen at the Dresden Transport Museum. However, each proposal for a new model was rejected by the GDR leadership for reasons of cost. As a result, the Trabant remained in production largely unchanged; in contrast, the
CzechoslovakCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
ŠkodaŠkoda Auto , more commonly known as Škoda, is an automobile manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 2000, positioned as the entry brand to the group...
automobiles were continually updated and exported successfully. The Trabant's production method, which was extremely labour-intensive, remained unchanged.
Starting in the summer of 1989, thousands of East Germans loaded their Trabants with as much as they could carry and drove to either
HungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
or
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
en route to West Germany--the so-called "Trabi Trail." Many of them had to get special dispensation to drive their Trabants into West Germany, since most of the Trabants on the road failed West German emissions standards (their pollution was four times the European average).
In 1989 a licensed version of the
Volkswagen PoloThe Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car manufactured by Volkswagen. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, coupé and estate variants....
engine replaced the elderly two-stroke engine, the result of a trade agreement between the two German states. The model, known as the
Trabant 1.1 also had minor improvements to the brake and signal lights, a revised grille and replaced the leaf spring-suspended chassis with one using
MacPherson strutThe MacPherson strut is a type of car suspension system which uses the axis of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in modern vehicles and named after Earle S. MacPherson, who developed the design.-History:...
s. However, by the time it entered production in May 1990, the two states had already agreed to
reunificationGerman reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
.
It soon became apparent that there was no place for the Trabant in the reunified German economy. The inefficient, labour-intensive production line was kept open only because of government subsidies. Demand plummeted, as residents of the east preferred second-hand western cars which were more efficient and put out less pollution. The production line closed in 1991 and the factory in Mosel (Zwickau), where the Trabant 1.1 had been made, was sold to Volkswagen. The rest of the company became
HQM Sachsenring GmbHright|250px|thumb|600cc 1983 Trabant P601L.HQM Sachsenring GmbH is a Zwickau-based company that supplies parts to the automotive industry.The company was named after the Sachsenring race track....
.
1990s and beyond
Although Trabants had been exported from East Germany, they became well known in the West after the fall of the
Berlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
when many were abandoned by their Eastern owners after migrating westward. Unlike many other Eastern European cars of the communist era (notably the
Lada RivaThe VAZ-2105, VAZ-2104 and VAZ-2107 are a series of medium-sized family cars built by Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ, introduced in 1980 in the Soviet Union, and progressively in other European markets through the early 1980s and sold in both saloon and estate versions...
, Skoda Estelle,
Polski FiatPolski Fiat was a Polish car brand. Under this brand, cars under licence of the Italian manufacturer FIAT were manufactured or assembled in Poland.-Before World War II:...
and
YugoThe Zastava Koral , also known simply as the Yugo, was a subcompact car built by the Zastava corporation. The first Yugo 45 was handmade on 2 October 1978....
), however, it was not a strong seller in Western Europe.
News reports inaccurately described them as having
cardboardPaperboard is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single...
bodies. This is likely due to the fact that the body of the Trabant was
DuroplastDuroplast is a composite thermosetting plastic, a close relative of formica and bakelite. It is a resin plastic reinforced with fibers making it a fiber-reinforced plastic similar to glass-reinforced plastic.-Uses:...
, a material that, in East German production, often made use of varying quantities of different fibers, such as cotton, or occasionally paper.
In the early 1990s it was possible to buy a Trabant for as little as a few marks, and many were given away. Later, as they became collectors' items, prices recovered, but they remain very cheap cars. Green Trabants are especially popular as they are said to bring good luck. The popular culture surrounding the Trabant was referenced by the performance artist
Liz CohenLiz Cohen is a performance artist and automotive designer. Cohen has an MFA in photography from California College of the Arts and Crafts, , where she has taught. She currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona....
in her
Bodywork project, which transformed an East German 1987 Trabant into a 1973
ChevroletChevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
El CaminoThe Chevrolet El Camino is a coupe utility vehicle produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1959–1960 model years in response to the success of its rival, Ford Ranchero. Production resumed for the 1964–1977 model years based on the Chevelle platform, and continued for the...
.
In the late 1990s, there were plans to put the Trabant back into production in
UzbekistanUzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
as the Olimp. However, only a single model was produced.
Former
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n
Foreign MinisterThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria is the ministry charged with overseeing the foreign relations of Bulgaria. It has been in existence since shortly after the Liberation of Bulgaria, with the first minister stepping into office on 17 July 1879...
and
Atlantic Club of BulgariaThe Atlantic Club of Bulgaria is a non-governmental, non-partisan organization dedicated to fostering the common values of the Euro-Atlantic community.- Mission :...
founding president
Solomon PassySolomon Isaac Passy is a Bulgarian politician, foreign minister of Bulgaria from July 2001 until August 2005, and the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE in 2004. Dr. Passy is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.- Summary :Solomon Passy was born in Plovdiv. He...
owned a famous Trabant, which he used to take
NATO Secretaries GeneralThe Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is the chairman of the North Atlantic Council, the supreme decision-making organisation of the defence alliance. The Secretary-General also serves as the leader of the organisation's staff and as its chief spokesman...
Manfred WörnerManfred Hermann Wörner was a German politician and diplomat. He served as the defense minister of West Germany between 1982 and 1988. He then served as the seventh Secretary General of NATO from 1988 to 1994. His term as Secretary General saw the end of the Cold War and the German reunification...
,
George RobertsonGeorge Islay MacNeill Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, is a British Labour Party politician who was the tenth Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, between October 1999 and early January 2004; he succeeded Javier Solana in that position...
and
Jaap de Hoop SchefferJakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal . He served as the 11th Secretary General of NATO from January 5, 2004 until August 1, 2009....
for a ride. Passy's Trabant was also blessed by
Pope John Paul IIBlessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
in 2002. In 2005, Passy donated the vehicle, which had become a symbol of Bulgaria's NATO accession, to the
National Historical Museum of BulgariaThe National Historical Museum in Sofia is Bulgaria's largest museum. It was founded on 5 May 1973 and its first representative exposition was opened in 1984 to commemorate 1300 years of Bulgarian history...
.
In 1997, the Trabant was celebrated for passing the "Elchtest" ("
moose testA moose test or elk test is a test to determine how a certain vehicle acts when the driver evades a suddenly appearing obstacle...
"), a 60 kilometre per hour swerve manoeuvre
slalomA zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular....
, without toppling over like the
Mercedes-Benz A-ClassThe Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a mini MPV produced by the German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. The first generation was introduced in 1997, and the all-new second generation model appeared in late 2004. Launched as a five-door hatchback in 1997, the second generation W169 introduced a...
infamously did. A newspaper from
ThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
had a headline saying "Come and get us, moose! Trabi passes A-Class killer test".
In 2007
HerpaHerpa, or Herpa Miniaturmodelle GmbH, is a German manufacturer of die-cast model aircraft under the Herpa Wings trademark and plastic car models under the Herpa Cars & Trucks trademark. The mainstay of Herpa Wings is in the 1/500 scale, although models are also produced in the 1/400, 1/200, and...
, a miniature vehicles manufacturer in Bavaria, showed a scale model of the "New Trabi" and revealed that they planned to introduce it. They bought the rights to the name and plan to produce a series of 5,000 cars. It would likely have a BMW engine and be sold for around €50,000.
In 2007 the Trabant (A P50 painted British Racing Green) was brought into the world of
diplomacyDiplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
. Steven Fisher, the Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy of
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
uses it as his diplomatic car.
In August 2009 it was announced that a new Trabant powered by an electric engine will be unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show on 17 September with production starting if investment can be secured.
Models
- Trabant P50 - later called Trabant 500 (Limousine and Universal (Combi))
- Trabant 600 (Limousine and Universal)
- Trabant 601 Standard (Limousine, Universal)
- Trabant 601 S. (Sonderwunsch - Special Edition) With optional equipment like fog lamps, rear white light and an odometer.
- Trabant 601 DeLuxe. Like the 601 S and additional twin-tone colouring and chrome bumper
- Trabant 601 Kübel. Jeep version with no doors, folding roof, auxiliary heating system, ignition system is RFI shielded.
- Trabant 601 TRAMP. Civilian version of the Trabant Kübel, mainly export to Greece.
- Trabant 601 Hycomat. Made for users with missing or dysfunctional left leg. It had included an automatic clutching system.
- Trabant 800 RS. Rally version
- Trabant 1,1 (Limousine, Universal and Tramp (Cabrio))
Trabant and car tuning community
The particularly archaic look and unique two-stroke engine sound of the Trabant has made it become a beloved model amongst the
car tuningCar tuning is both an industry and a hobby, in which an automobile is modified in order to improve its performance, handling and appearance. As most vehicles leave the factory set up for average driver expectations and average conditions, tuning has become a way to personalize the characteristics...
community in central Europe.
Many variations exist although two major streams have been developed.
The first stream meticulously preserves the two-stroke engine sound, while either tuning the original two cylinder engine for higher performance or using a two-stroke propulsion unit designed for another car (e.g. the 1000 cc Wartburg). Since the car is very lightweight (approx. 750 kg (1,653 lb)), a small increase in engine power can rapidly increase its
power-to-weight ratioPower-to-weight ratio is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement of actual performance of any engine or power sources...
, giving it a remarkable boost.
The second stream goes beyond the sentimental sound and encompasses a range of modifications from a complete engine swap to a thorough upgrade on the traction of Trabant, leaving only the body to hide a modern powerful car underneath (e.g. the Sascha Fiss'
Volkswagen LupoThe Lupo is a city car manufactured by German automaker Volkswagen from 1998 to 2005.-Model history:The Lupo was introduced in 1998 to fill a gap at the bottom of the VW model range caused by the increasing size and weight of the VW Polo. Rivals included the Ford Ka, the Opel/Vauxhall Agila and...
GTI). Some say that the perplexing effect caused by a postmodern Trabi that can overtake modern cars as described above 150 km/h (93 mph) is worth all the effort.
Some cars with supercharged powerplants have a rated power of over 150 hp. Due to the light weight, this gives a power-to-weight ratio of 11 lb/hp (149 W/kg) allowing these vehicles to achieve performance comparable to modern mid-range sports cars.
It has become an established tradition for Trabant fan clubs in central Europe to organise annual meetings to present new tuning modifications and performance accessories for the vehicle.
Potential revival
Even though Trabant doesn't have much of a history of being green, two German companies are trying to find investors to create the Trabant nT, an
electric carAn electric car is an automobile which is propelled by electric motor, using electrical energy stored in batteries or another energy storage device. Electric cars were popular in the late-19th century and early 20th century, until advances in internal combustion engine technology and mass...
that will be equipped with a 45 kW asynchronous motor powered with a lithium-ion battery. The nT will have a 100-mile (160-km) range on a full charge, a top speed of 80 mph (128 km/h), and a cost of US$29,000 or about €19,600.
See also
- Barkas
- Dacia
Automobile Dacia S.A. is a Romanian car manufacturer, named for the historic region that constitutes much of present-day Romania. It is now a subsidiary of the French carmaker Renault. The company is the main exporter from Romania with 10% of total exports....
- FSO Polonez
The FSO Polonez is a Polish motor vehicle produced from 1978 to 2002. The car name comes from the Polish dance, polonaise.-Background:The Polonez is a rebodied Polski Fiat 125p that Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych built under license from Fiat...
- Lada
Lada is a trademark of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast. All AvtoVAZ vehicles are currently sold under the Lada brand, though this was not always so; Lada was originally AvtoVAZ's export brand for models it sold under the Zhiguli name in the domestic Soviet market...
- Ostalgie
Ostalgie is a German term referring to nostalgia for aspects of life in East Germany. It is derived from the German words Ost and Nostalgie ....
- Škoda
Škoda Auto , more commonly known as Škoda, is an automobile manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. Škoda became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 2000, positioned as the entry brand to the group...
- Wartburg
- Yugo
The Zastava Koral , also known simply as the Yugo, was a subcompact car built by the Zastava corporation. The first Yugo 45 was handmade on 2 October 1978....
- Jokes about the Trabant
External links
Media