Editing Trabant (section)

== Overview ==
[[File:Trabant 601 Mulhouse FRA 001.JPG|thumb|alt=Small white Trabant in a museum|Trabant 601 limousine]]
[[File:Trabant 601S Universal 1984 II.jpg|thumb|alt=White station wagon|Trabant 601 Estate]]

The [[German language|German]] word ''Trabant'', derived from [[Middle High German]] ''drabant'', means 'satellite' or 'companion'.{{efn|According to [[Elof Hellquist]]'s ''Svensk etymologisk ordbok'' (''Swedish [[Etymological dictionary|Etymological Dictionary]]'', {{ISBN|91-40-01978-0}}), the word also exists in [[Low German]] ''dravant'', French ''trabant'' and Italian ''trabante'' but its origin is unknown: "It is not even certain whether the Romance words have been borrowed from the German, or vice versa."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/display.pl?mode=facsimile&work=svetym&page=0187|title=99 (Svensk etymologisk ordbok)|date=1922|website=runeberg.org|language=sv|access-date=28 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055443/http://runeberg.org/display.pl?mode=facsimile&work=svetym&page=0187|archive-date=7 November 2017}} {{in lang|sv}}</ref>}} The car's name was inspired by the Soviet [[Sputnik]] satellite.<ref name="Go Trabi">{{cite news |author=James, Kyle |date=19 May 2007 |title=Go, Trabi, Go! East Germany's Darling Car Turns 50 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2542584,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911072830/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2542584,00.html |archive-date=11 September 2007  }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Raymond G. | last=Stokes | chapter=Plastics and the New Society: The German Democratic Republic in the 1950s and 1960s | editor-last =Reid | editor-first =Susan E. | editor2-last =Crowley | editor2-first =David | title = Style and Socialism: Modernity and Material Culture in Post-War Eastern Europe | publisher = Berg | location=Oxford, U.K.; New York, N.Y. | date=2000 | isbn=1-85973-239-9 | oclc=898724665 }}</ref> The cars are often referred to as "Trabbi" or "Trabi". Produced without major changes for nearly 30 years, the Trabant became the most common automobile in East Germany. It came to symbolise the country during the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]] in 1989, as images of East Germans crossing the border into [[West Germany]] were broadcast around the globe.<ref name="IHT">{{cite news|last=Williams |first=Adam |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/06/news/trabi.php |title=The 'Trabi' automobile, once a symbol of East Germany, to be revived |newspaper=International Herald Tribune |agency=Reuters |date=6 September 2007 |access-date=17 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204094054/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/06/news/trabi.php |archive-date=4 December 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Revamped">{{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2773343,00.html |title=German Firm Plans to Launch Revamped Trabant |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=7 September 2007 |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224161159/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2773343,00.html |archive-date=24 February 2009  }}</ref>

Manufactured by a [[state monopoly]], a Trabant took about ten years to acquire.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/culture/commuting/the-12-worst-cars-ever-built/article4392663/|title=The 12 worst cars ever built|date=January 2010|website=[[The Globe and Mail]]|access-date=29 June 2019}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}} East German buyers were placed on a waiting list of up to thirteen years.<ref name=":2" /> The waiting time depended on their proximity to [[Berlin]], the capital.<ref name="Go Trabi" /> Official [[State (polity)|state]] [[price]] was 7,450 [[East German mark|GDR marks]] and the demand to production ratio was forty three to one (1989){{CN|date=April 2025}}. The [[free market]] price for a second-hand one was more than twice the price of a new one, and the average worker had to wait ten to thirteen years on a waiting list, or, if available, pay more than double for a second hand model.<ref name=":2" />

[[File:Trabant 2.JPG|thumb|alt=Simple automobile interior|Interior of a 601]]

The Trabant had a steel frame, with the roof, boot lid, bonnet, wings and doors made of [[duroplast]], a hard [[plastic]] made from [[Cotton recycling|recycled cotton]] waste from the Soviet Union and phenol resins from the East German dye industry.<ref name="Go Trabi" /><ref name="Frontiers" /> It was the second car with a body made of recycled material; the first was the [[AWZ P70 Zwickau]], produced from 1955 to 1959. The material was durable, and the average lifespan of a Trabant was 28 years.<ref name="Frontiers">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript402.htm#4 |title=Special From Germany: Show 402 |work=Scientific American Frontiers |publisher=PBS |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703075913/http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript402.htm |archive-date=3 July 2015}}</ref>

The Trabant's build quality was poor, and it was loud and slow.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|url=https://academic.oup.com/hwj/article/68/1/27/661625|title=The Trabant: Consumption, Eigen-Sinn, and Movement|volume = 68 | issue = 1 | date=18 September 2009|first = Eli | last = Rubin | journal = History Workshop Journal |pages=27–44|doi=10.1093/hwj/dbp016| issn = 1363-3554 |doi-access = free |url-access = subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.consumerguide.com/driving-a-trabant-the-worst-automotive-monstrosity-known-to-the-modern-world/|title=Driving a Trabant|last=Cotta|first=Rick|date=15 July 2013 }}</ref>

The car had four principal variants:

*The [[Trabant P 50]], also known as the Trabant 500 (produced 1957–1962)
*The [[Trabant 600]] (1962–1965)
*The [[Trabant 601]] (1964–1990)
*The [[Trabant 1.1]], produced in 1990–1991 with a {{convert|1043|cc|cid|lk=on|abbr=on|adj=on}} VW engine

[[File:Trabant Engine Block.jpg|thumb|alt=Trabant with the hood up; the engine is small.|Trabant [[two-stroke]] engine]]

The engine for the 500, 600 and the original 601 was a small [[two-stroke engine]] with two cylinders, accounting for the vehicle's modest performance. Its [[curb weight]] was about {{convert|600|kg|0|abbr=on}}. When it ceased production in 1989, the Trabant delivered {{cvt|26|PS|kW|0}}<ref>PS = Pferdestärke = metric horsepower = 0.9863 horsepower (US)</ref> from {{cvt|594|cc|cid}} [[Engine displacement|displacement]].
It took 21 seconds to accelerate from zero to its top speed of {{cvt|100|km/h}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |title=BBC |publisher=BBC |date=1 January 2007 |access-date=14 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116073526/http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |archive-date=16 January 2014  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |title=carfolio.com |publisher=carfolio.com |date=28 February 2013 |access-date=2 May 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116073526/http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A21605410 |archive-date=16 January 2014  }}</ref>

The engine produced a very smoky exhaust and was a significant source of [[air pollution]] &ndash; nine times the hydrocarbons and five times the carbon-monoxide emissions of the average 2007 European car. Its fuel consumption was {{convert|7|L/100 km|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transtrabant.cz/small-car/ |title=Trans National Trabant Tour 2007 |publisher=Transtrabant.cz |access-date=2 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718185212/http://www.transtrabant.cz/small-car/ |archive-date=18 July 2011 }}</ref> Since the engine was [[two stroke oil|two-stroke]], oil had to be added to the {{convert|24|L|U.S.gal impgal|adj=on}} fuel tank<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/2722019/Anyone-for-Trabants.html |title=Daily Telegraph |work=Telegraph|date=3 May 2003 |access-date=2 December 2010 |location=London |first=Bernard |last=Silk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023035525/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/2722019/Anyone-for-Trabants.html |archive-date=23 October 2011  }}</ref> at a 50:1 (or 33:1) ratio of fuel to oil at each fill-up. Contemporary gas stations in countries where two-stroke engines were common sold a premixed gas-oil mixture at the pump. Because the Trabant had no [[Fuel pump (engine)|fuel pump]], its fuel tank was above the engine so fuel could reach the carburettor by gravity; this increased the risk of fire in front-end accidents. Earlier models had no fuel gauge, and a dipstick was inserted into the tank to determine how much fuel remained.

Known for its dull colour scheme and cramped, uncomfortable ride, the Trabant is an object of ridicule for many Germans and is regarded as symbolic of the fall of the [[Eastern Bloc]].<ref name="Berlin">{{cite news |author=Hockenos, Paul |date=7 November 2014 |title=Berlin Welcomes Back the Trabant, if Only for a Day |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/automobiles/berlin-welcomes-back-the-trabant-if-only-for-a-day.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107061453/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/automobiles/berlin-welcomes-back-the-trabant-if-only-for-a-day.html |archive-date=7 November 2017  }}</ref> Known as a "spark plug with a roof" because of its small size, the car did gain public affection.<ref name="IHT" /><ref name="Revamped" />

Its design remained essentially unchanged from its introduction in the late 1950s, and the last model was introduced in 1990. The 1980s model had no [[tachometer]], no indicator for either the headlights or turn signals, no fuel gauge, no rear seat belts, no external fuel door, and drivers had to pour a mix of gasoline and oil into a tank located directly under the bonnet/hood.<ref name=":0" />{{Better source needed|date=May 2025}}  The Trabant 1.1 did have major changes including changing the engine and increasing fuel efficiency, although with imported components. For comparison, the West German [[Volkswagen Beetle]] received a number of updates (including improvements in efficiency) over a similar period.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Stroup|title=Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know about Economics and the Environment|publisher=Cato Institute|url=https://archive.org/details/economics00rich|url-access=registration|year=2003|page=[https://archive.org/details/economics00rich/page/32 32]|isbn=978-1-930865-44-0}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025}}