There’s part of the Audi iceberg that we have by no means seen in america. It is the place vehicles just like the A1, which is now in its second technology, and the A2 are discovered. The automotive that began this lineage is a small, two-door hatchback known as 50 that turns 50 years outdated in 2024.
Even in Germany, the chances of seeing a 50 are low. Audi constructed 180,828 items from 1974 to 1978, so it was hardly a high-volume mannequin, and it is a automotive that only a few bothered to protect. The 50 arguably did little or no for Audi — it wasn’t even straight changed. It was type of a stop-gap mannequin that traced its roots to NSU, one of many corporations that merged to type Audi as we all know it, and gave Volkswagen a big enhance.
Rewind to 1961: NSU launched a two-door, 135-inch-long metropolis automotive known as Prinz 4 that was powered by an air-cooled, rear-mounted two-cylinder engine. Two years later, the German model unveiled an extended, extra highly effective, and total extra usable evolution of the automotive known as Prinz 1000 that gained a four-cylinder engine. This variant proved notably well-liked in racing, and NSU fortunately capitalized on this success by launching a pair of factory-developed efficiency fashions known as TT and TTS, respectively. I am betting that each names ring a bell.
Within the late Nineteen Sixties, NSU started planning ground-breaking adjustments for its subsequent metropolis automotive. By that time, it was apparent that vehicles powered by a rear-mounted engine have been starting to appear like an anachronism, and never a really fascinating one. Volkswagen, Fiat, Renault, and Simca have been among the many European manufacturers step by step ditching the format in favor of a front-mounted engine spinning the entrance wheels. Additionally, air cooling was out; water cooling was in. Lastly, the following NSU metropolis automotive would wish to face out with a vastly extra modern-looking design; the Prinz sort of appeared like a Corvair that shrunk within the wash. The engineering division appeared over these pointers and commenced creating the automotive.
NSU wasn’t working alone — removed from it. Volkswagen bought the troubled model in 1969, merged it with Auto Union (which was itself already the product of a merger), and created the modern-day Audi model. Ludwig Kraus, a former Daimler-Benz engineer who labored as Audi’s technical director, spearheaded town automotive mission. The top consequence was a 137-inch-long two-door hatchback with an angular-looking exterior design penned by Hartmut Warkuß, who grew to become Volkswagen’s head of design in 1993, and a surprisingly spacious inside.
At launch, consumers had two variants of the 50 known as LS and GL, respectively, to select from. Each vehicles used a 1.1-liter four-cylinder engine, however the LS provided about 50 horsepower whereas the GL was rated at roughly 60. Launching a small, fuel-efficient automotive in 1974 had its perks: the results of the 1973 oil disaster nonetheless lingered like a nasty hangover. Audi had bought about 43,000 items of the 50 by March 31, 1975.
March 1975 can also be when the 50’s profession took a flip for the more severe. Wanting to reap the rewards of economies of scale, and glad to money in on demand for small, fuel-sipping vehicles, Volkswagen launched a badge-engineered 50 known as Polo (proven above) and positioned it under the first-generation Golf. Visually, not lots modified past the emblems and a number of the trim items; the 2 vehicles even shared their metal wheels.
Over the next years, the 50 started making much more sense as a Volkswagen than as an Audi. Group executives deliberate to push the Audi model upmarket by way of car dimension, pricing, and know-how, whereas Volkswagen was supposed to remain true to its title: the individuals’s automotive. Manufacturing of the 50 ended in the summertime of 1978 and Audi steered away from town automotive section till it launched the A2 in 1999. In distinction, the unique Polo remained in manufacturing till 1981 and Volkswagen instantly changed it with a second-generation mannequin provided in two physique kinds. In 2024, the Polo is effectively into its sixth technology, and Volkswagen has bought over 18 million items of the automotive since 1975.