Coming Soon: The All-New Trabant!

Frank Williams
by Frank Williams

First the New Beetle. Then the new MINI. Now the new Trabant. Yep, you read that right. Reuters reports that the plastic-bodied, smoke-spewing, two-stroke, two-cylinder rolling testimonial to everything that was wrong with communist East Germany is ready to stage a comeback. Or at least, that's what Herpa, a Bavarian company that manufactures miniature vehicles, is hoping. The company bought the rights to the name with visions of building an updated version of the car with a modern powertrain– possibly even a version with a BMW engine(!). They're planning an initial run of 5k Trabis, once they find someone to build them. The only question we have is… why? Perhaps one of our German readers can enlighten us.

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  • Cicero Cicero on Sep 08, 2007

    If they decide to dress up the new Trabi with a navigation system, they could keep with the Cold War-era theme by having a map on a paper piano roll that scrolls past behind a little plastic car. "Comrade, you veel turn LEFT in 40 meters or ELSE."

  • Madcynic Madcynic on Sep 09, 2007

    Actually it was not laminated wood, but a kind of plastic, called Duroplast. However, these class of plastics has properties very similar to wood, so the error is understandable.

  • Kafer1974 Kafer1974 on Sep 10, 2007

    I can personally attest to the high quality of the original Beetle. Mine is my daily driver. At the price mentioned, the new Trabi will have to offer more than nostalgia.

  • Lzaffuto Lzaffuto on Sep 10, 2007

    @Cicero In Soviet Russia, CAR drives YOU!

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