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A new Trabant will be launched at the Frankfurt motor show this September.

The electric prototype will be shown by German manufacturer Herpa Miniaturmodelle GmbH, in the hope of attracting investors willing to fund the car's launch in 2012.

See the Herpa Trabant picture gallery

Herpa's updated 'Trabi' retains the square, boxy look of the original car.

"The New Trabi will...Read the full article

Autocar:

range of about about 156 miles and weigh less than 1000kg.

 

It will cost £5.30, do your ironing and improve your sex life.... yeah right it'll come out with those specs!

I would have to agree that the specs are somewhat ambitious......and they definately need to work on their styling!

From 1/87 scale plastic model manufacturer to full blow car company, quite an impressive diversification!

What I will say though is that Herpa as company has a very good attention to detail, and stand a god chance of making a new Trabant a success. 

theonlydt:

It will cost £5.30, do your ironing and improve your sex life.... yeah right it'll come out with those specs!

It possibly won't improve your sex life - squint at the number plate and it says HERPES.

This is getting silly.

Retro is the future. However, its light weight is in its favour and is ahead of the trend in that, at least. Most manufacturers are now trying to reverse years of adding weight to their cars. The Trabant never got into that rut. The batteries will probably weigh more than the rest of the car...

The dolt Clarkson said in The Times that an Elise weighs as much as a Triumph Dolomite. If that's true, things have really gone in the wrong direction.

I liked the Dolomite, esp the Sprint. A true BMW 2002 competitor. What happened? Don't answer - we all know it was a combination of bad management, bad workmanship and inadequate investment. A very British story.

I've always thought that, given time, Trabant could be the next cool "Anti-Cool" brand, especially now that Skoda is quite mainstream!

I had thought that Lada might fit the role nicely too, but their new cars are even more generic looking than Kia's.

March1:

I've always thought that, given time, Trabant could be the next cool "Anti-Cool" brand

Hmm. "Anti-cool" is one thing...but the styling on this is truly dreadful.

I think we should all hold fire until it gets closer to being a production reality. If indeed it ever does.

 

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March1:

I've always thought that, given time, Trabant could be the next cool "Anti-Cool" brand, especially now that Skoda is quite mainstream!

I had thought that Lada might fit the role nicely too, but their new cars are even more generic looking than Kia's.

So maybe the Chinese could relaunch the Allegro!

Seriously how does a car like this stand a chance of production when great brands like Studebaker, Triumph and Austin Healey remain dormant? There's something very wrong with the world.

To me it looks brilliant; but then - Trabant belonged to the world where I grew up. I think you can look at it as a cool post-soviet remake...however, it could also be seen as a symbol of today's eco-driven uniformism...

And pigs might fly.