2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
Even if they are the best known - automobility in the GDR did not only consist of the Trabi and Wartburg brands. Nowadays, the east of Germany plays a role primarily as a production location.
By Stefan R. Weißenborn
Renault, Dacia, Skoda, Lada, Moskwitsch, Polski-Fiat, Zastava - not only Trabant and Wartburg were on the road in the GDR. The external variety was greater than the Trabi cliché suggests. Today the VEB Sachsenring as a producer of the Trabis has long been wound up, and the Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau (Ifa) no longer exists. But the large GDR car cities Zwickau and Eisenach still play a role in the German car industry. And with Leipzig a new location has emerged.
Old countries dominate
Years ago, the then Mayor of Leipzig, Wolfgang Tiefensee, vied for investments. The “transparent factory”, in which the VW Phaeton has been produced since 2001, was, however, built in Dresden. Instead, Porsche and BMW opted for Leipzig, where the Zuffenhausen-based company build the SUV Cayenne and Panamera. The Munich-based company produces the 1 Series as a five-door model in the exhibition center, as well as the small SUV X1. There is still another trend-setting to come: The plan is to start building the BMW Megacity Vehicle in Leipzig from 2013.
In an intra-German comparison, figures illustrate the superiority of the old countries: The big German car cities are Munich, Wolfsburg, Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, Bochum, Zuffenhausen. In 2009, 670,000 people were employed in the West German auto industry. According to the Center Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, however, there were 52,000 in the east. According to the industry association VDA, the share of East German production was 11.9 percent in 2009.
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These include some prestigious models. Mercedes has the Sprinter built in Ludwigsfelde, Brandenburg. And the car that has been best-selling by Germans for years, the VW Golf, comes off the production line in Wolfsburg as well as in Zwickau - once the location of VEB Sachsenring as the manufacturer of the Trabant. Eisenach, the other traditional location, has also been preserved: after the fall of the Wall, an Opel plant was built there.
But the story of East German car manufacturing is not just about West German players. The company Indicar in Wilkau-Haßlau, Saxony, is planning the new edition of the Trabant as an electric car. Talks are currently underway with potential investors - if all goes well, a series version could roll off the assembly line in 2012.
Doomed projects
Since 2003, the Jetcar car brand from Nietwerder in Brandenburg has been offering its Jetcar of the same name, a streamlined vehicle with seats installed one behind the other. An electric version has been announced for 2011 - at a price of 84,000 euros. A speedster called the YES! -Roadster was temporarily made by hand in Großenhain, Saxony, but the manufacturer went bankrupt. The racing car is now being manufactured at the Hessian site in Edermünde under the new aegis.
But despite all the optimism of the small, resourceful manufacturers - industry expert Prof. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer doubts: “Forget it. Who should buy them and at what price? " He sees the projects doomed to failure, mainly due to the lack of distribution channels.
Successful resuscitation
The former GDR sports car manufacturer Melkus is more or less risen from the ruins. "The revival of the brand has been successful," says Romy Friedl from Sales and Marketing. Sixty years ago, racing driver Heinz Melkus founded his company and initially designed formula racing cars. Between 1969 and 1979, 101 of the legendary RS1000 sports car were built. The successor, the gullwing RS2000, has been hand-made since the beginning of 2010. 25 pieces of the 270-horsepower car will go to customers for 115,000 euros annually. (dpa / tmn)
