The Trabant: The Old And The New

The fume-belching, two-stroke Trabant cars of Communist East Germany are to be relaunched.

A deal has been made with IndiKar to make a concept Trabant to be ready for the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show. There are still no set plans for production after this, and of course the “new Trabant” will be as much Trabant-like as the new MINI is like the old one.

The notorious Trabi “people’s car”, which went out of production when Germany reunited in 1990, has become a collectors’ item. Now it will be made with a BMW engine.

Daniel Stiegler of Herpa, which has bought the rights to the cramped motor, said: “There’s been a new Beetle, a new Mini, it’s time for a new Trabi.”

Known as “the spark plug with a roof”, old Trabis still sell for £200 - or £210 for a luxury model with a rear fog lamp.

Here’s a look at few original Trabants still on the go.