This year, Audi’s Neckarsulm factory in Germany commemorates its 150th anniversary. To mark this occasion, the luxury automaker, based in Ingolstadt, decided to do something extraordinary—an electric car project that does not feature the well-known four rings logo on its hood.
Prior to becoming the modern luxury carmaker we know today, Audi was known as Auto Union. The Neckarsulm plant, which currently produces the A6 and A8 sedans, belonged to NSU. NSU was a company that manufactured bicycles, motorcycles, and cars. At one point, NSU was the largest motorcycle manufacturer globally and introduced the world’s first-ever passenger car powered by a Wankel engine. In short, NSU held significant importance in its time.
However, NSU remained a relatively small company compared to other German car brands. In 1969, Volkswagen acquired NSU and merged it with Auto Union, reviving the Audi brand and discontinuing NSU-branded cars, which continued to be sold only until 1973.
One of the final models produced was the NSU Prinz 4, a compact two-door sedan featuring a rear-mounted 598 cc air-cooled two-cylinder engine that generated approximately 30 horsepower when it was originally introduced.
For the 150th anniversary of the factory, Audi chose to revive and modernize the NSU Prinz 4L model from 1971. Interestingly, Audi entrusted this task to a team of 12 trainees, who were able to accomplish an incredible feat: electrifying this aging classic car.
During the transformation, only a portion of the original car was retained. The old two-cylinder engine was replaced with a 240 hp electric motor sourced from a 2020 Audi e-tron. Additionally, the front hood’s fuel tank was removed and replaced with a high-voltage battery pack from the plug-in hybrid Audi Q7 TFSI e quattro.
