- Before the reunification of Germany in October 1990, the eastern region grouped under the name GDR (German Democratic Republic) had two auto plants: one located in Zwickau (a former Auto Union factory before 1945) that made the Trabant (100,000 units per year from 1958 to 1990) and the other located in Eisenach (a former BMW factory before 1945) that made the Wartburg (50 000 copies per year from 1966 to 1990).

- In 1990 the Zwickau plant was taken over by Volkswagen (to manufacture the Golf) and the Eisenach plant was taken over by Opel (to manufacture the Astra and Corsa),the former owners (Auto Union and BMW ) did not wish to take over these sites.

- BMW returned however in 2004 to this region to build a plant in Leipzig.

- Volkswagen built a factory in Dresden in 2001 and Porsche built one in Leipzig in 2002.

- Today, the eastern part of Germany, which enjoys lower costs than in the western part, has five factories whose overall production capacity reached 700,000 vehicles per year (against 200 000 in 1990).

- Last year, these five plants produced 593,000 vehicles (against 603,000 in 2011).

 Data source: File #101 - Worldwide production detailed by models