The car was supposed to have two proper seats, and two smaller ones, a mass of not more than 600 kg, a fuel consumption of not more than 5.5 L/100 km, and a price of just 4000 Deutsche Mark der Deutschen Notenbank.

However, instead of designing the Trabant P 50, VEB Automobilwerk „Audi“ Zwickau worked on an intermediate model, the AWZ P 70, to gain experience with the car's intended body material, duroplast.

[3] After three and a half years of development, the car, now called the Trabant, was presented to the public at the 1957 Leipzig Trade Fair.

The newly formed conglomerate was called VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau.

During its production run, the Trabant P 50 received several technical updates and modifications.

Instead, for DDR buyers, the Trabant P 50 Camping was introduced, an estate with flat-folding seats, and a large folding sunroof.

[5] The Trabant P 50 is a small, two-axle car with a self-supporting body, a front engine, and front-wheel drive.

Instead of a regular grille and a radiator, the Trabant P 50 has small cooling vents below its headlamps.

They are air-cooled, two-cylinder, two-stroke petrol engines with a rotary intake valve, cross-flow scavenging, a simple crankshaft with three anti-friction bearings, and a horizontal draught carburettor.

[9] Its engine block is made of grey cast iron with either iron cooling fins (P 50 only) or cast-on aluminium cooling fins (P 50/Z, P 50/1, P 50/2); the latter is referred to as the Alfer design (Aluminium-Ferrum).

[5] With a P 50 series engine, a Trabant can reach a top speed of around 90 km/h, with a fuel consumption of approximately 8 L/100 km.

All Trabant P 50 cars were fitted with a four-speed manual, column-shifted gearbox.

All gears were equipped with a lockable freewheeling device so the engine can run independently from the wheels.