Trabant is a series of small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Four models were made: the Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Trabant 1.1. The first model, the 500, was a relatively modern car when it was introduced.
Zwickau is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde, and lies in a string of cities sitting in the densely populated foreland of the Elster and Ore Mountains stretching from Plauen in the southwest via Zwickau, Chemnitz and Freiberg to Dresden in the northeast. From 1834 until 1952, Zwickau was the seat of the government of the south-western region of Saxony.
Auto Union AG was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
Duroplast is a composite thermosetting resin plastic developed by engineer Wolfgang Barthel in 1953 in the German Democratic Republic. Its production method places it in a similar family as Formica and Bakelite. It is reinforced with fibers making it a fiber-reinforced plastic similar to fiberglass.
Horch was a German car manufacturer, which traced its roots to several companies founded in the very late 19th and early 20th century by August Horch.
HQM Sachsenring GmbH is a Zwickau-based company that supplies chassis and body parts to the automotive industry. The company was named after the Sachsenring race track. Founded as VEB Sachsenring after the end of World War II, and operating out of the former Auto Union factory in Zwickau, Sachsenring was one of the few manufacturers of vehicles in East Germany, its best known product being the Trabant, produced between 1957 and 1991. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, Sachsenring transitioned from a government-owned company under a centrally-planned economy to a private corporation in a free market economy.
Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau, usually abbreviated as IFA, was a conglomerate and a union of companies for vehicle construction in the former East Germany.
The Horch P240 or Sachsenring P240 was a luxury car built by the VEB Kraftfahrzeugwerk Horch Zwickau in East Germany between 1955 and 1959. The early preproduction models can be identified by the grill, which is divided in two and has vertical bars.
The DKW 3=6 is a compact front-wheel drive saloon manufactured by Auto Union GmbH. The car was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in March 1953 and sold until 1959. It carried the name Sonderklasse on the right hand fender of all steel bodied models – this being part of the model name for this range. The first model in the range was named by factory project number, DKW F91, which was replaced by the F93 and F94 models from the 1956 model year. The F93 and F94 models were referred to by Auto Union as the "Big DKW 3=6". By 1958 the car's successor, the Auto Union 1000 Coupe de Luxe, was being sold and the older car had become, in essence, a ‘run-out’ model; it was known more simply as the DKW 900.
The DKW F8 is a compact front-wheel drive two-stroke engined saloon, introduced in 1939. The F8 was slightly shorter than its predecessor despite having a marginally increased wheelbase. The base model, known as the Reichsklasse, was manufactured only till 1940 but the Meisterklasse sedan continued in production until 1942. In addition to the saloons, cabriolet versions were offered.
The Wartburg 311 is a car produced by East German car manufacturer VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach from 1956 to 1965. The 311 model was manufactured in a number of variations, including pickup, sedan, limousine, coupé, and as a two-seat roadster. The two-stroke engine was enlarged to 992 cc in 1962. An interim model, called the Wartburg 312 and featuring the chassis developed for the succeeding 353, was built from 1965 until 1967.
The Trabant 601 was a Trabant model produced by VEB Sachsenring in Zwickau, Saxony. It was the third generation of the model, built for the longest production time, from 1964 to 1990. As a result, it is the best-known Trabant model and often referred to simply as the "Trabant" or "Trabi". During this long production run, 2,818,547 Trabant 601s were produced overall, and it was the most common vehicle in East Germany.
Richard Werner Lang was a German automotive engineer. He is best known for the design of the Trabant.
Gläser-Karosserie GmbH was a German coachbuilder, based in Dresden, and known in particular as a producer of bespoke cabriolet car bodies. The enterprise was founded in 1864 and lasted, by some criteria, till 1952.
The Trabant 1.1 is the fourth and final series production model of the East German Trabant series, made by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Unlike its predecessors, which have a two-stroke engine, the Trabant 1.1 has a four-stroke engine. In total, 39,474 units of the Trabant 1.1 were made from May 1990 to 30 April 1991. This makes the 1.1 the rarest Trabant model.
The IFA Horch H3, also known as IFA H3, is a short bonnet lorry, and the first series production vehicle by East German VEB HORCH Kraftfahrzeug- und Motorenwerke Zwickau, later known as VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. The short-lived H3 was produced from 1947 to 1949 in Zwickau ; 852 were produced. Several parts used in the H3, most notably the engine, were originally intended to be used for Sd.Kfz. 11 half tracks.
The Volkswagen Zwickau-Mosel Plant is an automobile factory in today's Zwickau district of Mosel, Germany. Founded on 26 September 1990, together with the Chemnitz plant and the Transparent Factory, it belongs to Volkswagen Sachsen, based in Zwickau. Currently, the Zwickau plant has about 8,000 employees. Signalling a milestone the last combustion vehicle was produced on 26 June 2020.
The Trabant P 50, also known as the Trabant 500, is the first series production model of the East German Trabant series, produced by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau from 1957 until 1962. In total, 131,495 units were built. In 1962, VEB Sachsenring switched production from the P 50 to the short-lived intermediate model Trabant 600, which combined the exterior styling of the Trabant P 50 with the technical design of the next generation Trabant model, the Trabant 601.
The Trabant 600, also known as the Trabant P 60, is the second series production model of the East German Trabant series, produced by VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau from 1962 until 1965. In total, 106,117 units were built. The Trabant 600 was a short-lived intermediate model that combined the exterior styling of the Trabant P 50 with the technical design of the next generation Trabant model, the Trabant 601. For a short period of time, the Trabant 600 estate was built alongside the 601 saloon.
AWZ P70 Zwickau estate
AWZ P70 Coupé
AWZ P70 serial number plate
