The early preproduction models can be identified by the grill, which is divided in two and has vertical bars.

This became an issue in 1957 and 1958, especially considering East Germany was producing the Sachsenring P240 as its own luxurious car.

In 1958 the Ministries of Interior of both countries took part in trials, which the East German Minister of Machinery personally attended.

The Tatra 603 won, and subsequently East Germany's higher communist officials began to drive the T603, while lower officials had to drive imports from the USSR[2] (especially Volga).

This article about a classic post-war automobile produced between 1945 and 1975 is a stub.