NSU Wankel Spider History
Catalog record
This is a brief catalog introduction with limited source documentation. A licensed, identity-checked lead photograph has not yet been added for this page. Detailed year, configuration and ownership coverage must be identified separately; this page is not a complete vehicle catalog.
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Revealed at the 1963 Frankfurt IAA alongside the Prinz 1000, the NSU/Wankel Spider entered production in autumn 1964 and holds an unambiguous historic distinction: it was the world's first production car powered by a Wankel rotary engine. Its open two-seat body was a development of the Sport Prinz coupe's Bertone bodywork, fitted with a water-cooled single-rotor 498 cc Wankel engine mounted in the rear — a layout that made the car light and gave it handling that contemporary testers praised highly, with a top speed of around 160 km/h (100 mph).
NSU priced the Spider at approximately 8,500 Deutschmarks and produced just 2,375 units by the time production ended in July 1967. The Wankel engine's apex-seal wear under hard use drove high warranty costs, foreshadowing the larger problems the engine would cause in the Ro 80. Lessons from the Spider directly informed the twin-rotor unit developed for the Ro 80 that followed.
Body styles
- Cabriolet / Roadster
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