How green might a reborn Trabant be?

Do you remember the Trabant? Yes, that model built in the German Democratic Republic until the Wall was knocked down. Not the greenest choice in the world, even if it was a very small car made from recycled materials. Hood, doors and roof were made from duroplast, a material made up from Russian cotton waste and phenol resins. Performance was very modest, from the 0.6 liter two-stroke, 25 HP powered the car from 0 to 60 in 21 seconds. It was considered one of the most polluting powertrains ever made.

In 2007, the Trabant celebrates its 50th anniversary, so Herpa, a model car company has decided to launch a prototype which not only tries to catch up some of the nostalgia (à la Fiat 500 or Mini) with a model that, although inspired by the communist sub-subcompact, has been updated to modern times. They have even bought the name already, so their commitment is solid.

Visitors to the Frankfurt International Motorshow will be able to see the preliminary 1:10 scale model and make their suggestions in design. All suggestion slips will be entered into a raffle to win a special model of the historic Trabant 601. From here, we can't but also ask for the cleanest powertrain possible, because there's always room for a simple and good small car.

[Source: Herpa]