Editing Trabant (section)

=== {{anchor|Late production (1989~1991)}}1989–1991 ===
[[File:Checkpoint Charlie Nov. 1989, Ostberliner überqueren zum ersten Mal die Grenze nach Westberlin ohne Grenzkontrolle. DF-ST-91-01399.jpg|thumb|Trabant 601 entering [[West Berlin]] in 1989, [[Checkpoint Charlie]]]]
[[File:Trabant 1.1.jpg|thumb|alt=Two-door sedan with a man standing behind it|Trabant 1.1 with [[VW Polo]] four-stroke engine]]
In mid-1989, thousands of East Germans began loading their Trabants with as much as they could carry and drove to Hungary or Czechoslovakia en route to West Germany–the so-called "Trabi Trail". Many had to get special permission to drive their Trabants into West Germany. The cars did not meet West German emissions standards and polluted the air at four times the European average.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sebetsyen|first=Victor|title=Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire|publisher=[[Pantheon Books]]|location=New York City|year=2009|isbn=978-0-375-42532-5|url=https://archive.org/details/revolution1989fa00sebe}}</ref>

A licensed version of the [[Volkswagen Polo]] engine replaced the Trabant's two-stroke engine, the result of a trade agreement between East and West Germany. The first prototypes were built in 1988, with pre-series cars appearing in 1989, but series production only began in May 1990 - By which time the two German states had already agreed to [[German reunification|reunification]]. The locally built [[List of Volkswagen Group petrol engines#EA111|EA111-series engine]] was given the model code BM&nbsp;820 by the East Germans; the plant also made 1.3-litre versions for the [[Wartburg 1.3]] (BM&nbsp;860) and the [[Barkas (van manufacturer)|Barkas utility vehicle]] (BM&nbsp;880).<ref name=PK1>{{cite journal | url = http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/13998/DBGT28_2003Kirchberg.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151220174611/http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/13998/DBGT28_2003Kirchberg.pdf | archive-date = 2015-12-20 | title = Die Implantation des VW-Motors in den DDR-Automobilbau. Ein Bericht zur Innovationsgeschichte der DDR | trans-title = The installation of VW engines in East German cars: An episode in the history of East German innovations | language = de | first = Peter | last = Kirchberg | issue = 128 | journal = Dresdener Beiträge zur Geschichte der Technikwissenschaften | page = 129 | date = 2003 }}</ref> The model, the Trabant 1.1, also had minor improvements to its brake and signal lights, a renovated grille, and [[MacPherson strut]]s instead of a leaf-spring-suspended chassis.

By April 1991, after only eleven months, the Trabant 1.1 was discontinued. In total, 3.7 million Trabant vehicles had been produced.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://krasivmir.tk/?p=361 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110414143248/http://krasivmir.tk/?p=361 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 14 April 2011 | title = Trabant}}</ref> However, it soon became apparent that there was no place for the Trabant in a reunified German economy. Its inefficient, labour-intensive production line had only survived thanks to government subsidies.

The [[Zwickau]] factory in Mosel (where the Trabant was manufactured) was sold to [[Volkswagen]] AG; the rest of the company became [[HQM Sachsenring GmbH]]. Volkswagen redeveloped the Zwickau factory into a centre for engine production; it also produces some [[Volkswagen Golf]]s and [[Volkswagen Passat|Passats]].