East German Trabant to make unlikely comeback as eco-carLONDON, England (CNN) -- The much-maligned symbol of motoring in Communist East Germany, the Trabant, is set to make an unlikely comeback as a concept car at this year's International Motor Show in Frankfurt.
Designers have replaced the car's smoke-belching two-stroke engine with electric fuel cells and solar-powered air-conditioning.
This, they promise, is not the four-wheeled object of ridicule that rolled off production lines in East Germany from 1957 until 1991. This is the new Trabant, or Trabi as they're known, an energy-efficient city car for modern drivers.
"I think the market will be people who say the old Trabant was a cool car, and people who want to have a stylish car, and want to have a green car," Daniel Stiegler, of Herpa Miniaturemodelle, told CNN.
Herpa is not a carmaker, at least not in the traditional sense. It makes model cars and airplanes, of the type that sit in display cabinetsnot garages.
Two years ago, a member of its management team, Klaus Schindler, decided it was time to make a miniature model of the Trabant. Herpa took it to the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in 2007 and were stunned by the response.
"We had a special folder where people at the fair could fill out and give it back to use. We had about 14,000 reactions on that, and most of them, 90 percent, said 'Yes, the Trabant is a really cool car, let's bring it back,'" Stiegler said.
This, they promise, is not the four-wheeled object of ridicule that rolled off production lines in East Germany from 1957 until 1991. This is the new Trabant, or Trabi as they're known, an energy-efficient city car for modern drivers.
"I think the market will be people who say the old Trabant was a cool car, and people who want to have a stylish car, and want to have a green car," Daniel Stiegler, of Herpa Miniaturemodelle, told CNN.
Herpa is not a carmaker, at least not in the traditional sense. It makes model cars and airplanes, of the type that sit in display cabinetsnot garages.
Two years ago, a member of its management team, Klaus Schindler, decided it was time to make a miniature model of the Trabant. Herpa took it to the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in 2007 and were stunned by the response.
"We had a special folder where people at the fair could fill out and give it back to use. We had about 14,000 reactions on that, and most of them, 90 percent, said 'Yes, the Trabant is a really cool car, let's bring it back,'" Stiegler said.
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