Yahoo Autos Audi apprentices electrify a vintage NSU Prinz into a performance car
Whether they're from OEMs or aftermarket outfits, electrifying vintage cars is the cool new thing. Audi, and more specifically, a group of 12 technical apprentices, revealed their latest vintage electric conversion: a 1971 NSU Prinz 4. The economy coupe was fully restored and heavily modified with much more electric power both as a celebration of an important anniversary for part of Audi, and a way for the apprentices to learn how to work on cars.
The anniversary in question is the 150th of NSU, one of the brands that became part of the Audi that we know today. And Audi still operates in Neckarsulm, where the workshops that became NSU were founded in the late 1800s. Before it became part of Audi, NSU made cars and motorcycles, with one of the most famous being the rotary-powered Ro 80. The Prinz 4, on the other hand, was a fairly humble compact coupe that followed in the footsteps of the Beetle with a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine and rear-wheel drive. Of course it differed in that it used a roughly 600-cc inline-two-cylinder engine. It only made about 30 horsepower.
The modified NSU EP4 you see above is extremely different. It is technically a 1971 model, with emphasis on the "technically." The most prominent change is the electric motor. It's still in the back, powering the rear wheels, but it makes 236 horsepower. It actually comes from a 2020 E-Tron. The battery pack comes from a Q7 plug-in hybrid, and it's mounted in the nose, which would've originally been the cargo area. The chassis was thoroughly overhauled, too, apparently using a modified A1 floorpan, along with brakes and axles from the same modern compact Audi.
