In the Independent, a comment on Trabants:
Trabants, known affectionately as Trabis, were produced by the East
German car-maker Sachsenring and became the most popular vehicle in
former Communist countries.
Popular? I guess we could use that word but it’s a little odd. There was no choice…it isn’t as if people were choosing to have Trabis, it’s that if you wanted a car you got a Trabi or nothing (the Wartburgs, the larger version, were made in even smaller numbers).
In
People outside East Germany, though, would get a Trabant if they could rather than put up with a Polski Fiat, Dacia or such. And if you could get hold of a Skoda – well, that was the summit of human felicity and probably meant you were in the secret police.
and there I was mistakenly lusting after an Aston Martin DB9 (and it’s lancaster bomber noise)!
Yes, and I guess it was popular to stand in lines. They did a lot of that as well.
Trabants are actually back in production for some African markets and developing countries. They are cheap, use a lot of fibreglass are easy to fix and can run on lower grade fuel.
But not by design – its the best they could do in East Germany. By accident they created a car for a developing market.
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