The P50 evolved from a prototype of the former Audi factory, now called Automobilwerk Zwickau (AWZ), the P70. That car had a two-stroke engine and front-wheel drive that had been developed by DKW even before the war, and had already been taken into production by AWZ for the benefit of the IFA F8. The P70 had a plastic body and was produced in small numbers until the first Trabant was presented, the Trabant P50. After the formation of the Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau (IFA) and the 1958 merger of AWZ with the former Horch plant, work was divided between these two Zwickau-based plants. The former Horch plant built the chassis and the former Audi plant provided the body and mounted it on the chassis. The merged factories continued under the name VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. The Trabant P50 was powered by an air-cooled two-cylinder two-stroke engine with 500 cc capacity. The engine produced 18 hp, good for a top speed of about 95 km/h. After a technical upgrade of the engine and application of a fully synchronized gearbox, it produced 20 hp. The P50 model was available in standard and a two-tone luxury version. For a short period, a three-tone luxury version was also available. The inner part of the body was self-supporting metal, but the outer side of the fenders, doors, roof, hood and trunk lid were made of Duroplast, a plastic manufactured from cotton fibers soaked in phenolic resin. Duroplast was used due to a shortage of steel resulting from a trade embargo by the West, and a surplus of cotton fibers from the Soviet Union. The phenolic resin was extracted from lignite, which was widely available in the GDR.

-Spare wheel