A high-pressure gas discharge lamp (HID [high intensity discharge] lamp) is described which is in particular free from mercury and suitable for use in automobile technology. The lamp is remarkable in particular for a discharge space (2) which has a volume which is reduced by a given factor in comparison with the volume of the discharge space of known mercury-containing discharge lamps. The quantity of the light-generating substances in the discharge space (2) is reduced by the same factor in the simplest case, or even more strongly. This avoids the risk of an impairment of the imaging properties of the lamp because of non-evaporated light-generating substances which may shade off a portion of the luminous discharge arc (21) and/or the tips of the electrodes (3).