Two-stroke rattle: More Trabis on Germany's roads again
Created: 12/30/2022, 4:30 p.m
By: Marcus Efler
Ostalgia on wheels: In Germany, the number of approved Trabant is growing again.
The Wartburg is also finding more and more new fans.
Used cars are expensive - and many a driver has a déjà vu in the current market situation: the prices for older vehicles had shot up once before.
And that was shortly after the opening of the Berlin Wall, when many residents of East Germany hurriedly said goodbye to their GDR mobile homes and threw themselves on used models from VW, Opel or Renault.
Two-stroke rattle: More Trabis on Germany's roads again
Popular again: the Trabant.
(Iconic image) © Dirk Sattler/Imago
Almost everyone who could afford it switched to West technology.
The former standard car in the East, the Trabant, which was produced in Zwickau until 1991, quickly disappeared from the streets - although it still had delivery times that compared to today's almost like an express delivery.
The more expensive Wartburg was even harder to get in GDR times, which was considered a big shot car.
But the scrap iron from Eisenach didn't stand a chance against Astra and Co. either.
Two-stroke rattle: Trabant popular again in the eastern federal states
But now the tide is apparently turning: the number of Eastern models on the road has been growing again for some time.
According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), 39,342 Trabis are registered nationwide: almost 5,000 more than in 2010. The Wartburg currently has 8,726 registered vehicles, a good 1,000 more than twelve years ago.
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The eastern federal states in particular are responsible for the comeback of the rattle boxes with (in the case of the Trabant) two-stroke engine: According to the KBA, more than 10,000 Trabis are registered in Saxony, ahead of Brandenburg (6,300) and Thuringia (5,700).
The Wartburg is also popular again, especially in Saxony.
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Two-stroke rattle: H license plate allows driving in environmental zones
The fact that the East Oldies can now be on the road with a tax-saving H license plate should contribute to the comeback.
Spare parts are readily available, some are even remanufactured.
With CO2 emissions of 99 g/km, the Trabant is also very climate-friendly.
Which does not change the fact that the other exhaust gases such as benzene are harmful to the environment and health - and that the oldtimer status alone allows entry into city centers.
