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The NSU Ro 80 was a technologically advanced
large sedan-type automobile produced by the German firm of NSU
from 1967 until 1977. largely unknown for building cars outside
Europe, the Ro 80 was a
unique car with a 115 bhp (86 kW), 995 cc twin-rotor
Wankel engine driving the
front wheels through a clutchless semi-automatic transmission.
It was voted Car of the Year for 1968 by European motoring
writers.
Unfortunately for NSU, the car developed an early reputation for
unreliability it could never escape. The Wankel engine in
particular suffered from heavy wear on the rotor tip seals,
among many other problems, and some early cars required a
completely rebuilt engine before 30,000 miles (50,000 km). Poor
understanding of the Wankel engine by dealers and mechanics did
not help this situation. By the 1970 model year, most of these
problems were resolved, but the damages to the car's reputation
and NSU's financial situation were irreparable. NSU even planned
to develop a 3 rotor motor but this plan was scrapped largely
due to lack of funds.
Other technological features of the Ro 80 aside from the
powertrain were the four wheel disk brakes, still a rarity among
cars of its class at the time. The front brakes were mounted
inboard, reducing the unsprung weight. The suspension was
independent on all four wheels, with MacPherson struts at the
front and semi-trailing arm suspension at the rear, both of
which are space-saving designs commonly used today. Power
assisted rack and pinion steering was used, again foreshadowing
modern designs.
The styling, by Claude Luthe, was considered very modern at the
time and still holds up well; the Ro 80 has been part of many
gallery exhibits of modern industrial design. The large glass
area foreshadowed 1970s designs such as Citroën's. The shape was
also slippery, with a drag coefficient of 0.355 (practically
unequalled for the era, although average for modern cars).
Series production started in October 1967: the last examples
came off the production line in April 1977.
NSU were developing a smaller version of the RO-80,
to be called the NSU K-70, planned to use a more conventional engine in
a move to improve on the bad image they received with the RO-80s
reliability. Unfortunately with dwindling funds NSU merged with the
Volkswagen and Audi group in 1969. the K70 was released as a Volkswagen
in 1971 and NSU continued on with only the RO80 until 1977 when NSU
ceased to exist. Only 37,400 vehicles were produced during a ten year
production run.
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