More GDR cars of the Trabant and Wartburg type are rolling on Germany’s roads again. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in Flensburg, their number has been increasing for years.
According to current statistics, 39,342 vehicles of the cult car from Zwickau are registered nationwide. More than 10,000 are out and about in Saxony alone – more than anywhere else in Germany. Brandenburg took second place with around 63,000 “Trabis”, followed by Thuringia (5,700).
The first Trabant rolled off the production line at VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke on November 7, 1957. A good three million units were produced before production stopped in 1991. In 2010, the KBA counted around 34,800 registered models across Germany – now vintage cars.
Middle class Wartburg
The Wartburg, which was once produced in Eisenach, can still occasionally be seen on the streets. According to current figures, 8,726 former GDR mid-range cars are registered, most of them in Saxony (2058). The statistics from 2010 still showed 7,700 vehicles.
In 1955 the first Wartburg was built in the Eisenach automobile plant under the designation 311. A total of around 1.2 million vehicles of this brand rolled off the assembly line. Production was shut down in 1991.
