Turbulent times

The open-top two-seater on the NSU stand at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show was a sensation. Known as the Wankel Spider, this small two-seater had a single-rotor rotary piston engine at the rear. NSU had been working together with Felix Wankel on a new engine concept since the beginning of the 1950s: instead of a reciprocating piston, a rotor compressed the fuel/air mixture (rotary piston engine).

Once again at the instigation of leading industrialist Friedrich Karl Flick, Volkswagenwerk AG acquired the majority of shares in Auto Union GmbH in December 1964. The Ingolstadt-based company became a fully owned VW subsidiary from the end of 1966.

All work on the two-stroke engine came to an end when Auto Union became part of the Volkswagen Group. A four-cylinder four-stroke engine developed previously under Daimler-Benz - known as the "medium-pressure" engine - was installed in the last DKW model F 102 and presented as an Audi in the summer of 1965.

In September 1967, NSU presented a completely new model in the upper mid-size category, the NSU Ro 80. Its outstanding feature was a 115 bhp twin-rotor rotary piston engine. Its modern body was ahead of its time and featured styling elements that only became the norm in body design several years later. The NSU caused a major sensation, but was unable to help the Wankel principle make the breakthrough hoped for.

On 26 November 1968, Auto Union invited dealers and the press to attend the presentation of the newly designed Audi 100 at the Ingolstadt City Theatre. This model, developed by technical director Dr. Ludwig Kraus, took Audi into the competitive market segment of the upper mid-size class for the first time. The Audi 100 quickly became a bestseller and formed the basis for a new Audi model series that ensured the future independence of the Audi brand.

In March 1969, NSU Motorenwerke AG, which had just been taken over by VW, and the Ingolstadt-based Auto Union GmbH merged to form Audi NSU Auto Union AG, which had its head office in Neckarsulm.

In the summer of 1972, the chairman of technical engineering Dr. Ludwig Kraus presented the Audi 80, the continuation of the model policy started with the Audi 100. This car used a four-cylinder OHC engine which was later also adopted by the Volkswagen Group, ultimately becoming the engine with the highest production volume at VW. The Audi 80 was a smash hit. Over a million of this model were built and sold within six years.

September 1974 saw the launch of the Audi 50, the smallest car in the Audi model range and Audi's answer to the energy crisis of the early 1970s. Since this was planned as a high-volume model from the outset, the small Audi was built at VW in Wolfsburg. Six months after the appearance of the Audi 50, this model was also launched on the market as the VW Polo.