It's a frequently repeated claim that East Germany invented another radical micro car concept and they did but the Volkswagen Golf was designed by Italians:
https://www.italdesign.it/project/golf/
Günter Mittag, a former railway worker, was in fact the most senior economics "expert" but not with minister rank but as SED Politbüro member (even higher). He is said to have even imported his entire personal drinking water from the West for hard currency. Honecker and Mittag had custom made stretched hunting Range Rovers like these:
http://www.ait-trading.com/astro/mis...jagdwagen.html