Volkswagen K70

Volkswagen K70 at a glance

An NSU without a Wankel

NSU began work on the car on 12 January 1965 as a conventional companion to the Wankel-engined Ro 80. The K in the name stood for Kolben, the German word for piston, to separate it from the rotary-engined flagship. Ewald Praxl led the engineering, and Claus Luthe, who also shaped the Ro 80, drew the clean three-box body; one German account credits Hermann Bühler with much of the design work alongside Luthe. NSU planned to build 45,000 a year.

The timing went wrong. Volkswagen took control of NSU in early 1969 and merged it with Auto Union, the company that became Audi. The K70 was due at the Geneva Motor Show about three weeks later, but Volkswagen halted the debut and the pre-series production because the car overlapped with its own VW 411 and the Audi 100. The magazine Hobby printed a crossed-out K70 under the headline that called it the victim. Only 23 NSU-badged pre-series cars were finished. The story of the Ro 80 itself is told in our NSU Ro 80 history, and more NSU models are listed in the NSU catalogue.

Salzgitter and the Volkswagen launch

Volkswagen chief Kurt Lotz revived the project. Rather than use NSU's Neckarsulm works, Volkswagen built a new plant in Salzgitter, at a reported cost of DM 600 million, and presented car and factory to the press on 20 October 1970; production had begun in August. Development costs had risen from an estimated DM 30 million to about DM 70 million.

The launch price of DM 9,450 put the K70 DM 200 above the four-door VW 411 E and DM 1,000 above an Opel Ascona. The L trim with reclining seats cost DM 340 more. Volkswagen promoted the car as the start of a new era, and the safety features included a reinforced passenger compartment, crumple zones at both ends and a fuel tank in a protected position.

Engineering ahead of the Volkswagen range

The four-cylinder engine sat lengthways between the front wheels with the differential below it, and drove the front wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox. The front disc brakes were mounted inboard on the differential housing, with drums at the rear. MacPherson struts located the front wheels, and semi-trailing arms on a subframe carried the rear, with zero scrub radius at the front. The wheelbase of 2,690 mm was long for the class, and the boot held 585 litres (one German source gives 700 litres). A planned Wankel version, the Ro 70, and an automatic gearbox never reached production.

The 1.8-litre engine arrived in May 1973 for the 1973 model year and replaced the 66 kW (90 PS) unit. That year also brought halogen twin headlamps on L models and an automatic choke. Earlier updates had added rounded bumpers in August 1971 and the seats and head restraints of the VW 411 for the 1972 model year.

Period tests: space and comfort, high fuel bills

Magazines liked the room and the ride, and early comparison tests went the K70's way with headlines such as "Ro 80 for VW drivers". The weak points were noise and thirst. A 1971 test recorded up to 16 l/100 km, and the engine turned at about 4,000 rpm at 100 km/h, with noise that testers found tiring above 120 km/h. Other test consumption figures ranged from 11.3 to 14.1 l/100 km. The square body had a drag coefficient of 0.52, and the 66 kW (90 PS) car was slower than all its rivals of equal power. The lack of power steering, a notchy gearshift and a loud heater fan also drew criticism.

Why the K70 ended: the Passat arrives

Production peaked at 76,780 cars in 1971 and fell sharply after the Passat appeared in 1973. The Passat was smaller and cheaper, and with its Audi 80 sibling, described in our Audi 80 B1 guide, it took over the K70's front-drive layout at a lower cost. In 1974 about 7,000 K70s were sold against 341,000 Passats. Only 25 cars were completed in 1975. The K70's layout and Luthe's design work fed into the Passat, the Volkswagen Golf and the Polo, and Volkswagen's 50th-anniversary release of October 2020 credits it with breaking new ground for the brand.

Volkswagen K70 today: what to check when buying

Rust is the decisive issue. Classics World says the K70 rusted almost everywhere and quickly, and the corrosion explains why so few survive; only about 800 right-hand-drive cars were built for Britain. A careful look at the sills, floor and wheel arches matters more than the mileage. Early cars also suffered gearbox problems and minor quality faults, so a test drive through all four gears is worthwhile.

Volkswagen Classic lists the K70 among its historic models, and Classics World notes that the air-cooled Volkswagen scene has largely ignored it, which keeps prices low. Values are modest: in October 2019 Auto Bild Klassik put average cars below EUR 5,000 and good ones at around EUR 8,000, noting that a short price rise in 2015 and 2016 had not lasted. The wider Volkswagen range is in our Volkswagen catalogue.