Everything about Nsu Motorenwerke Ag totally explained
NSU Motorenwerke AG, (normally just
NSU), was a
German manufacturer of
cars and
motorcycles, which was founded in
1873. It was acquired by
Volkswagen Group in
1969. VW merged the company with
Auto Union, to eventually evolve into
Audi as it's known today.
History
NSU began as a
knitting machine manufacturer in the town of
Riedlingen on the
Danube in
1873, and moved to
Neckarsulm, where the river
Sulm flows into the river
Neckar, in
1884. The company soon began to produce
bicycles as well, and by
1892, bicycle manufacturing had completely replaced the knitting machine production. At about this time, the name NSU (from Neckar and Sulm) appeared as brand name.
In the early years of the
20th century NSU motorcycles were developed, in
1905 the first NSU cars appeared. In 1932 the car production in Heilbronn was sold to
Fiat.
During
World War II NSU designed and produced the famous
Kettenkrad, NSU HK101 a
half-tracked motorcycle with the engine of the
Opel Olympia.
After the war, NSU restarted in a completely destroyed plant with pre-war constructions like the Quick, OSL and Konsul motorbikes. And also still the HK101 could be purchased at NSU as an all terrain vehicle in a civil version. The first post war construction was the NSU Fox in 1949, available in a 2-stroke and a 4-stroke version. In 1953 the famous NSU Max followed, a 250 cc motorbike with a unique overhead camdrive with connecting rods. All these new models had a very innovative monocoque frame of pressed steel and a central rear suspension unit.
Albert Roder, the genius chief engineer behind the success story, made it possible that in 1955 NSU became the biggest
motorcycle producer in the world. NSU also holds 4 world records for speed: 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955. In 1956 Wilhelm Herz started at the
Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Herz was the first man to ride a motorcycle faster than 200 miles per hour, in August 1956.
In 1957 NSU re-entered the car market with the new
NSU Prinz, a small car with a doubled NSU Max engine, an
air cooled two-cylinder engine of 600 cc and 20 hp. Motorbike production continued until 1968.
In 1964 NSU offered the first
Wankel engine car of the world: the NSU Wankelspider. In the same year Prinz 1000 and derivates like the TT and TT/S followed. As a family car the Typ 110 (later 1200SC called) was launched in 1965 with a more spacious body design. The last NSU cars with a conventional 4 - stroke engine had the air cooled
OHC four cylinder engine in common.
In 1967 the sensational 2 rotor 115hp
NSU Ro 80 was presented to public and soon gained several design awards like "car of the year 1967". The sensation was never found back in sales figures.
Volkswagen Group takeover
The development of the
rotary engine was very cost-intensive for the small company. Problems with the sealings of the engine rotor soon damaged the image of the company. In
1969, the company was taken over by
Volkswagen Group, who merged NSU with
Auto Union. VW also owned the almost forgotten pre-war brand
Audi, which was reintroduced in 1966. So now the new company was called
Audi NSU Auto-Union A.G. The management of the Neckarsulm plant moved to Audi's headquarters in
Ingolstadt. Since the small rear engined NSU models (Prinz 4, 1000, 1200) phased out in 1973, the Ro 80 was the last car still in production, that carried the NSU badge. Unfortunately
Audi never made use of the brand name NSU again after April 1977, when the last
NSU Ro 80 was sold. Ironically enough you can still find NSU as a brand name on very mean bicycles which are neither produced to former NSU standards nor have any spirit of the once 1st address for quality and innovation on 2 wheels.
Already during the production time of the Ro 80 the Neckarsulm plant was used to build the larger Audi models like
Audi 100 and
Audi 200. The
Porsche 924 and later
Porsche 944 were also assembled in the Neckarsulm plant too. Those models were joint venture projects of
Porsche and
VW, but Porsche didn't have the internal capacity to build the 924 and 944. In present days it's the production plant for Audi's topline vehicles like
Audi A6,
Audi A8 and
Audi R8. Furthermore it's home of the "Aluminium- und Leichtbauzentrum" where Audi's aluminium made space frame bodies are designed and engineered.
NSU is primarily remembered today as the first licensee, and one of only three automobile companies, to produce cars for sale with
Wankel engines. NSU invented the principle of the modern Wankel engine with an inner rotor. The
NSU Ro 80 was the second mass-produced two-rotor Wankel-powered vehicle after the
Mazda Cosmo. In
1967, NSU and
Citroën set up a common company,
Comotor, to build engines for
Citroën and other car manufacturer.
Only
Mazda continued the development on the Wankel engine. Mazda currently has a reliable sportscar, the RX8 in their portfolio looking back on a successful
Wankel engine family.
A museum in Neckarsulm, the, has many of NSU's products on display.
NSU cars
NSU produced the following post - war cars:
NSU motorcycles
NSU had several successes in the Isle of Man TT races in the
1950s.
NSU holds 4 World records for speed: 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955.
During the 1930s, and in the mid 1950s NSU was the largest
motorcycle producer of the world.
The
NSU Quickly was the most popular moped of its time. It was produced between 1953 and 1966 in over 1.000.000 examples and still can be found today all over the world as more than 60% were exported.
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Military vehicles
NSU Kettenkrad halftracked motorcycle (1940-1949)Further Information
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