The K 70 was originally designed to be the new mid-size car of NSU, as the cars of the Prinz series were too small and the Ro 80 to outlandish for the NSU customers.
One year before the Ro 80 should be on the market the designer of the Ro 80 Claus Luthe was asked to design the pretty square-edged K 70. The bosses of NSU wanted a classical saloon car. And even though the car gave a pretty conservative impression, it had features most mid-size cars of its time didn’t have.
There was enough passenger space for a family, four doors, and a really big boot for several big suitcases. It had a front water-cooled 1.6 L piston engine with 70 PS (51 kW/ 69 hp) and front wheel drive. The K was by the way standing for the German word Kolben (piston), in contrast to the Ro standing for rotary engine.
The car was to be presented to the public on the Geneva Motor Show in 1969, but Volkswagen took over NSU. And at that time it wasn’t too sure whether the car would ever be presented because it was too close in size and to Volkswagen’s Audi 100. But as Volkswagen was in need of a new family car the K 70 was first sold in 1970, now under the name of Volkswagen. From 1970 to 1974 more than 210,000 cars were produced.
