The NSU Ro 80 is a four-door, front-engine executive sedan manufactured and marketed by the West German firm NSU from 1967 until 1977
Noted for innovative, aerodynamic styling by Claus Luthe and a technologically advanced powertrain, the Ro 80 featured a 84 kW (113 bhp), 995 cc (60.7 cu in) twin-rotor Wankel engine driving the front wheels through a semi-automatic transmission with an innovative vacuum-operated clutch system.
The Ro 80 was voted Car of the Year for 1968[2] and 37,398 units were manufactured over a ten-year production run, all in a single generation.
Other technological features of the Ro 80, aside from the powertrain, were the four-wheel ATE Dunlop disc brakes, which were generally only featured on expensive sports or luxury saloon cars. The front brakes were mounted inboard, reducing the unsprung weight. The suspension was independent on all four wheels, with MacPherson struts at the front and semi-trailing arm suspension at the rear, both of which are space-saving designs commonly used today. Power-assisted ZF rack and pinion steering was used, again foreshadowing more recent designs.
The car featured an automatic clutch which was commonly described as a three-speed semi-automatic gearbox: there was no clutch pedal, but instead, touching the gear lever knob operated an internal electric switch that operated a vacuum system which disengaged the clutch. The gear lever itself then could be moved through a standard "H-pattern" gate.
The styling, by Claus Luthe who was head of design at NSU and later BMW, was considered very modern at the time; the Ro 80 has been part of many gallery exhibits of modern industrial design. The large glass area foreshadowed the 1970s designs such as Citroën's. The shape was also slippery, with a drag coefficient of 0.355 (very low for the era). This allowed for a top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph). Indeed, comparisons have been drawn between the design of the Ro 80 and the aerodynamic 1982 Audi 100 built in the same factory some 15 years later.
Our truly wonderful RO 80 has covered 71,000 miles and has been owned by an engineer with a penchant for quirky and mechanically interesting vehicles. In his ownership the RO 80 was gone through to make sure it was mechanically perfect with everything working and full respray under taken in its original hue.