Trabant in 1958
Trabant was firsted introduced in later 1950s. It was first launched in 1958 with the varsion called Trabant P50. This car was the base of the Trabant series, and even the latest 1.1 versions had a large number of interchangeable parts with this original P50 car. P50 was equipped with the 500cc 18 hp (13 kW) engine which was later replaced with more horse power engine.
The Trabant P50 was a relatively advanced car when it was launched in 1958. It was automobile with front wheel drive, a unitary construction, composite bodywork and independent suspension all around. The main problem was two-stroke engine. By the late 1950s small cars in western europe mainly used four-stroke engines which are cleaner and more efficient. Those four-stroke engines where used by the Volkswagen. Trabant could not used them because of budgetary constraints.
When released in 1958 the Trabant was technically equivalent to the West German Lloyd automobile, which had an air cooled two-cylinder four-stroke engine in the same size vehicle.
