NSU Wankel Spider History

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.