NSU Ro-80

Vehicle Overview

Unveiled at the 1971 Turin Auto Show, the NSU Ro-80 is a concept car built by Pininfarina and designed by Paolo Martin. Motorization that in those years was seen with curiosity and skepticism, so it needed to be supported by a relatively innovative but not exaggerated image, since it was believed that adding a strangeness to the strangeness would give negative results. The solution hypothesized at the beginning was feasible, but unfortunately, in the eventual development for production, led to various practical, ergonomic and construction problems. Today, however, with the development of electronics and the use of new materials, everything would be easier and more feasible. For example, it was not possible to think of a new type of front and rear lights, it was not possible to adopt a different instrumentation from the analog one and much less use controls and switches that were not produced, even the wheel rims were “normal” and the front and rear bumpers mirrored US regulations. The platform and the mechanics were totally standard, with narrow tracks, pedals and guide structure, changes were not accepted if not minimal. At one point Paolo Martin also decided to literally “saw” part of the roof and create an open and then closed external luggage compartment. The first luxury four-seater pick-up sedan was about to born. The problem was that at the time the “pick-up” was not even known what it was or at least relegated to memories of the provincial cities of the American West and therefore the image was not pushed in that direction, also because it was difficult. to explain the need for an external luggage rack. It gave the feeling of “peasant” and then there was nothing to carry, if not suitcases or small packages. Revised today, it could be suitably revisited, to be the progenitor of a new type of high-end car, perhaps a little “snobbish”, but useful for carrying many of the countless gadgets that it seems you can’t give up on anymore. Many today are trying and sooner or later this idea will be revived.