Audi has turned the standard NSU Prinz 4 from the Nineteen Sixties/early ’70s right into a wild EV idea.

Revealed on Saturday, the one-off car was a challenge undertaken by apprentices at Audi’s plant in Neckarsulm, Germany, to mark 150 years of manufacturing on the web site.

“We needed to construct a automobile that was not solely quick and seemed cool but in addition honored the A hundred and fiftieth-anniversary of the location,” Dean Scheuffler, one of many apprentices concerned within the challenge, mentioned in a press release.

Audi wasn’t round 150 years in the past, however the web site was initially dwelling to manufacturing of NSU stitching machines and later bicycles and bikes. NSU ultimately moved into automobile manufacturing beginning in 1905, together with launching the primary rotary-powered automobile within the type of the 1964 Spider (additionally known as the Sport Prinz). That was three years earlier than Mazda launched its first rotary automobile, the Cosmo 110S.

Audi EP4 idea based mostly on the NSU Prinz 4

Though NSU survived the Second World Battle, it was acquired by Volkswagen Group within the late Nineteen Sixties and merged with fellow VW Group model Auto Union. The merged entity later turned Audi.

NSU’s Prinz 4 was launched in 1961 and constructed till 1973, making it one of many last NSU-branded autos. The tiny coupe was powered by an air-cooled, rear-mounted, 2-cylinder engine. Within the trendy idea, dubbed the EP4 (Electrical Prinz 4), the 30-hp engine has been changed by a 236-hp electrical motor borrowed from an E-Tron SUV (now the Q8 E-Tron). The tiny idea does not function the E-Tron’s huge battery, although. As an alternative, a smaller unit was borrowed from a plug-in hybrid Q7 variant offered abroad. It sits within the space the place the automobile’s gas tank usually resides.

Constructing the idea was no simple process, but it surely gave the apprentices invaluable expertise. After stripping the donor car and treating the remaining rust, the apprentices modified the floorpan of an Audi A1, together with the brakes and axles, to suit the Prinz 4. The modification was required as a result of massive improve in horsepower, Audi mentioned.

The apprentices used 3D printing to create lots of the one-off components used on the idea. This included the inside, the place customized devices and shows have been put in. A pc presents data reminiscent of remaining cost and velocity data on the shows, and in addition performs diagnostic duties.