• Audi is honoring 150 years since manufacturing started in Neckarsulm, which has gone from constructing knitting machines to internet hosting the meeting of the Audi A4, amongst different fashions.
• For the anniversary, Audi had its trainees flip a 1971 NSU Prinz 4 into an electrical sports activities automobile, widening the sq. physique and including trendy touches like LED lighting.
• Rather than the two-cylinder engine, the apprentices fitted a 240-hp electrical motor from an Audi e-tron, hooked as much as the battery from a plug-in-hybrid Q7 SUV.

When you have fond reminiscences of nerdy college science initiatives like we do, then simply wait till you see the superior challenge lately given to 12 Audi apprentices. A set of trainees had been tasked with creating an electrical restomod to honor the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Audi’s manufacturing facility website in Neckarsulm, Germany, which initially produced knitting machines in 1873. The attention-catching consequence, the Audi EP4 idea, was revealed this previous weekend.

The challenge started in January with a 1971 NSU Prinz 4 that had been sitting, uncared for, for many years. NSU was a German automaker subsumed by Volkswagen in 1969 earlier than being merged with Auto Union to create the Audi model we all know immediately. The Prinz was assembled in Neckarsulm from 1961 till 1973, making it the proper canvas for the celebratory reinterpretation.

Whereas the boxy form and powerful beltline of the unique Prinz stays, the main points have been completely reworked. The round headlights had been swapped for oval LED items, whereas the entrance bumper gained a splitter and a big consumption feeding air by a vent within the hood. Sign Yellow accents pop in opposition to the Suzuka Gray paint, and the rear wing sprouting from the again fringe of the roof is mounted to not the physique however to the roll cage itself, with the wing helps passing by the rear window.

Together with fixing rust spots within the physique and solidifying the 50-year-old chassis, the trainees additionally tore out the unique 30-hp two-cylinder gasoline engine from the rear compartment and changed it with a 240-hp electrical motor from a 2020 Audi e-tron. Whereas the load of the motor rests within the rear of the automobile, the battery balances it out by residing beneath the hood the place the gasoline tank initially lived. The apprentices took the 17.9-kWh battery from a plug-in-hybrid Audi Q7 SUV.

All of this further energy required some structural modifications. The ground plan, together with the brakes and axles, had been borrowed from an Audi A1, and the broader fenders had been 3D-printed to deal with the old-school white wheels and sticky efficiency rubber. The trunk will also be set to a half-open place to permit cool air to enter whereas additionally serving to point out off the electrical powertrain. The EP4 idea has no bearing on any future Audis, however the neat challenge automobile exhibits the promise of the subsequent technology of Audi designers and engineers.

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Caleb Miller started running a blog about automobiles at 13 years previous, and he realized his dream of writing for a automobile journal after graduating from Carnegie Mellon College and becoming a member of the Automobile and Driver group. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to at some point personal one thing weird like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.