Vinyl Icons

Original LP
Autobahn was released in November 1974. In Germany [Phillips 6305, 231] and the US [Vertigo, VEL-2003], it arrived in a sleeve with a painting by Emil Schult, featuring a road scene as viewed through a car's windscreen, with a picture of the group on the dashboard. The same photo featured on the rear cover, superimposed on the back seat of a car.

For the UK LP, the blue and white Bundesautobahn motorway sign was used both for front and back [Vertigo 6360 620, see below]. The front cover of the French LP, which arrived a year later, carried the Schult painting with the motorway sign superimposed upon it [Philips, 6305 231], while a 1975 UK repressing (same catalogue number) came with an embossed cover.

Tape Versions
In the US a version of Autobahn was released in 1974 on ¼in four-track stereo tape [Vertigo VT F 42003], while in Canada that year it arrived on 8-track cartridge [Mercury, MC8-1-1154]. An 8-track cartridge was released in the US in 1975 on Vertigo [VC8-2003], as well as a quadrophonic 8-track cartridge, also on Vertigo [VQ8-2003].

The UK cassette arrived in 1974 [Vertigo 7149 005] with the road sign cover. The German cassette also used this artwork in preference to the Schult painting [Phillips 7105 181]. The US cassette, released on Vertigo in 1975, has the Schult cover and for those eagle-eyed German speakers, the final track was misspelt as 'Morganspaziergang'.

First CD
The first CD came out in Germany in 1986 on Electrola [CDP 564 7 46153 2] and in the UK that year on EMI [CDP 7 46153 2, pictured above]. In the US, the first CD was released a few years later, in 1992, on Elektra [9 25326-2].

Autobahn has never been released with extra tracks. It was remastered in 2009 and issued in the EU and UK on the group's own Kling Klang label and Mute [50999 9 66014 2 6, CDSTUMM 303] and in the US on Kling Klang and Astralwerks [50999 3 08300 2 8].

Audiophile LP
In 2009 Kraftwerk released a remastered 180g LP through their Kling Klang Schallplatten label, which had been running since the late '70s. It came out via Mute in the UK [Kling Klang 5099996601419, Mute STUMM 303], and included a 12-page booklet along with a picture inner sleeve.

Special Edition
In 2020 a Special Edition 180g LP based on the same remaster and with similar packaging (booklet and picture inner sleeve) was released on Kling Klang/Parlophone [50999 9 66014 1 9] on blue translucent vinyl. A 'mispress' version, with the labels of the group's 1978 album The Man-Machine on both sides of the disc, commands high prices!