Series production of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class began early in 1979 in Graz, Austria. Mercedes had developed it together with Steyr-Daimler-Puch. The German army and the United Nations use it under the name Wolf. In the summer of 2017 the 300,000th left the line. For its 40th anniversary the magazine firmenauto chose the headline Gebaut für die Ewigkeit, built for eternity.
They Still Work Perfectly
In August 2025 the regional newspaper Nordkurier showed its readers’ favorite appliances from the GDR. The headline was Sie funktionieren noch tadellos, they still work perfectly. One reader’s washing machine from 1983 was still in full use. Another wrote of an RG 28 hand mixer: Der hat mich noch nie im Stich gelassen. It has never let me down.
The Moped From the GDR
Simson mopeds from East Germany may still ride at 60 kilometers per hour if they were first registered under the old GDR rules before 28 February 1992. Newer mopeds are limited to 45. The reason is a clause in the Unification Treaty of 1990. Production ended in 2002. The historian Jens Schöne calls the mopeds robust and comparatively easy to repair, which mattered in the GDR.
How many are still on the road is uncertain. The Federal Motor Transport Authority counts 20,000 registered GDR mopeds. Experts assume there are far more.
Buying for the Dump
In 2010 Cosima Dannoritzer’s documentary Kaufen für die Müllhalde, buying for the dump, opened in many European cinemas. It was about products that are built to break early. In Germany, Stefan Schridde founded an association and a website against such products, Murks? Nein Danke!, botched work? No thanks!
Ten Years in the Test Lab
In its endurance test, Stiftung Warentest runs washing machines through 1,840 wash cycles, about ten years of use. In a test published in October 2014, three of 13 machines failed. The three that failed cost between 395 and 555 euros.
Ninety Percent Want to Know the Lifetime
In October 2024 the Federation of German Consumer Organizations had the institute forsa survey 1,001 people. When buying electrical products, 90 percent would find binding information from the manufacturer about the product’s lifetime important. For 87 percent it mattered whether the device could be repaired.
Of those who had not had a broken device repaired although they wanted to keep using it, 77 percent said that a repair would have been too expensive.
Words for Things That Last
unverwüstlich — indestructible. Said of a coat, a car or an old radio.
wertbeständig — keeping its value.
nicht totzukriegen — impossible to kill. Said with affection of an old machine that keeps working.
die Sollbruchstelle — the intended breaking point. An engineering term, now also used for a weak point a maker is suspected of building in on purpose.
die Wegwerfgesellschaft — the throwaway society. It is a reproach.
Repair Cafés
In a repair café, volunteers help people mend broken things. In October 2018, 660 such initiatives were registered in Germany. In September 2026 about 1,900 were listed. The foundation anstiftung runs the online directory where the initiatives are listed. The idea is usually traced to the Netherlands in 2009.
Appliances That Fail Sooner
In February 2016 the Federal Environment Agency published a study on how long electrical devices are used. Among large household appliances, the share replaced within five years because of a defect rose from 3.5 percent in 2004 to 8.3 percent in 2013. Many devices, from smartphones to flat-screen televisions, were replaced although they still worked well. The study could not prove planned obsolescence.
The agency’s president, Maria Krautzberger, said that Germany must consider minimum requirements for product lifetime and quality. She spoke of eine Art Mindesthaltbarkeit, a kind of minimum durability, for electrical devices. The word comes from the best-before date on food.
The Bauhaus Lamp
In 1924 Wilhelm Wagenfeld first presented a table lamp, then called MT8. At the time it was not made in large numbers, and no dealer wanted to sell it. Since 1980 the firm Tecnolumen in Bremen has made it, as the only manufacturer authorized by Wagenfeld and his family.
The lamp even made it into the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is also one of the most often counterfeited design objects of all.