VW K70
The Volkswagen K70 is a sedan automobile produced by both NSU and Volkswagen from 1969 to 1974.
The K70 was originally developed by NSU as a smaller brother to the more famous Ro 80, the only difference being that the K70 used a conventional piston engine instead of the Ro80's more complicated Wankel rotary engine. The name "K70" referred to the fact that the engine had a power output of 70 brake horsepower (52 kW), the "K" denoting the German word "Kolben", meaning Piston.
In 1969, just as the car was about to be launched, NSU was taken over by Volkswagen, who integrated the Necklarsum company with Auto-Union/Audi which it had acquired in 1964. VW were in desperate need for a new family saloon to replace the unsuccessful Type 4, which itself was intended to replace the Beetle. Thinking that the K70, featuring front wheel drive and modern styling was the perfect way to transform its image, the Wolfsburg firm quickly scrapped publicity material showing the K70 badged as an NSU, and instead put it into production as a Volkswagen.
But once again, buyers tanned the K70 with the same brush as its terminally unreliable Ro 80 sister car, plus the K70 was notorious for serious corrosion problems, and very few have survived as a result. It was replaced, in 1973 by the Audi based VW Passat.
