Wartburg (marque)

About Wartburg (marque)

Wartburg was a marque of automobiles manufactured by VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach (AWE) in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1956 to 1991. It was the second best-selling car brand in East Germany after Trabant, with around 1.6 million vehicles produced in Eisenach. Wartburg's origins date back to 1898, named the Wartburg overlooking Eisenach, with AWE re-introducing the brand in 1956. Wartburgs were considered to be a middle class car, a step up from the common Trabant, reserved for those deemed more integral to the East German state. From the 1950s until the late 1980s, Wartburgs featured a three-cylinder two-stroke engine with only seven major moving parts: three pistons, three connecting rods and one crankshaft. The Wartburg 1.3 featured a four-stroke, four-cylinder engine licensed from Volkswagen from 1989 to 1991.