NSU Motorenwerke AG
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Logo of the Company NSU, 1951 |
NSU Motorenwerke AG (normally just
NSU) was a
German manufacturer of
cars and
motorcycles and a predecessor to what is now
Audi.
NSU began as a
knitting machine manufacturer, established in the town of
Neckarsulm in
1884 as the
Neckarsulmer Strickmaschinenfabrik (Neckarsulm Knitting Machine Factory). The firm soon began making
bicycles as well, and by
1892, bicycle manufacturing had completely replaced knitting machines. At about this time, the name NSU (from letters in
Neckar
SUlm
) began to be used.
In the early years of the 20th century, NSU motorcycles appeared, as a natural continuation of the bicycle business. 1905 saw the first NSU car. In 1969, the company was taken over by Volkswagen, who merged NSU with Auto-Union, which owned the famous Audi brand. The new company was called Audi NSU Auto-Union A.G'', the management of the firm moving to Audi's headquarters in
Ingolstadt. The Neckarsulm factory survives to the present day as the second principal production plant for Audi vehicles.
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NSU Wankel Spider 1964 - 1967 |
NSU is primarily remembered today as the first licensee, and one of only three automobile companies, to produce cars for sale with
Wankel engines. The company equipped their
NSU Spider with a 498 cc single-rotor engine before licensing the technology to many companies. The
NSU Ro 80 was the second mass-produced two-rotor Wankel-powered vehicle, though it was known for its poor reliability. In
1967,
NSU and
Citroën set up a common company,
Comotor, to build these engines.
Despite all the licenses, only
Mazda continued the work. That company went on to perfect a durable
Wankel engine family and a long-lived series of automobiles.
Cars
As well as a number of prewar vehicles, NSU produced the following models of car:
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NSU Type 32, prototypes produced in 1933-34, which eventually became the
Volkswagen Beetle after NSU pulled out.
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NSU Prinz I, II, 30 and III (1957-1962)
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NSU Sport Prinz (1959-1967)
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NSU Prinz 4, 4L (1961-1972)
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NSU Prinz 1000, NSU 1000 (1967-1972)
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NSU 1000 TT, NSU TT, NSU TTS (1965-1972)
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NSU Typ 110, NSU 1200 (1965-1972)
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NSU Spider (1964-1967)
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NSU Ro 80 (1967-1977)
* NSU K70, produced after VW/Audi takeover as the
VW K70Motorcycles
NSU made a range of well-engineered motorcycles and had several successes in the Isle of Man TT races in the
1950's.
The NSU Quickly was the most sold moped of its time. It was produced between 1953 and 1963 in over 1.000.000 exemplars. [
1]
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List of German companies
