[BC] Radio in a rut...

[NMMboy]

R.J. Carpenter wrote:
> Even Volkswagen pulled that stunt.  Their old air-cooled rear engine
> formula had run its course. Their answer was to buy Audi.  Current VWs
> in the US/Europe are descended from what Audi was building back then -
> water-cooled front-wheel drive.

Actually, much of that innovation came from another German company, NSU.
In 1967, NSU introduced the Ro80, a rotary-engine sedan which was decades
ahead of its time in both styling and engineering (two decades later, cars
like the Ford Taurus were still copying the Ro80's aerodynamic styling).

Volkswagen bought Audi in 1964, but didn't do much with it until 1969,
when they bought out NSU.  Volkswagen's first water-cooled front-engine
car, the K70, was really just a NSU with a VW badge on it.  The K70 never
really gained any popularity, as VW's air-cooled cars were still selling
like hotcakes, but it did serve as the basis for the first front-engine
car designed by VW itself, the Passat (initially sold in the USA as the
Dasher).

Meanwhile, the Ro80 was a victim of its own technological advancement. 
Just like Mazda's early rotary-powered cars, it suffered from engine
reliability problems, which left it with a bad reputation even after
VW/Audi had improved the engine's design.  In the '80s, the Audi 5000 did
come close to copying the Ro80's elegant styling, but the VW/Audi group
has not manufactured any rotary-engine cars since then.



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