The Trabant comes back to life as a classic car

The GDR cult car Trabant is coming back to life as a classic car and is becoming a lucrative investment. On average, the small cars that were once ridiculed as "plastic bombers" and "racing cards" are currently being offered for around 7300 euros, Gerd Heinemann from the consulting firm BBE Automotive told the German Press Agency. The company regularly carries out market analyses for vintage and classic cars in Germany. For some special Trabi variants, prices of 25,000 euros and more are even being asked on the Internet. "Prices will continue to rise," Heinemann estimates. Five percent a year is quite realistic.

The Trabant 601 was presented to the international public 60 years ago at the Leipzig Spring Fair. It replaced the predecessor models Trabant 500 (P 50) and 600 (P 60). Until reunification, more than 2.8 million 601s were built in Zwickau, making it the best-selling Trabant model. After reunification, it was hardly in demand as an everyday car, but became a star on the big screen in films such as "Go Trabi Go" and "Trabbi goes to Hollywood". Registration figures in Germany have been rising again for several years: according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the 40,000 mark was broken again in 2023.