The K70 is the Volkswagen you’ve probably never heard of. The company calls it a ‘quiet game changer’, but the car was never destined to wear a VW badge.
© Provided by Retro Motor Volkswagen K70
Instead, it was developed by NSU to be sold alongside the radical but troublesome Ro80. Indeed, the K70 was due to use a rotary engine, but NSU had a change of heart.
Sensible, given the Ro80’s notorious reliability issues, but you have to wonder what might have been had the NSU Ro70 seen the light of day. Instead, it became the K70 – that’s ‘K’ for Kolben (German for ‘piston’), with the ’70’ denoting the planned horsepower.
Say hello and wave goodbye
© Provided by Retro Motor VW badge
Volkswagen completed its takeover of NSU on the eve of the 1969 Geneva Motor Show. An NSU-badged prototype was unveiled, but the K70 disappeared from view for several months. Although the Ro80 remained on sale until 1977, it was hard to find a place for the K70, not least because Volkswagen had launched the air-cooled 411 in 1968.
The K70 was a turning point in the company’s history. A chance to wave goodbye to its air-cooled and rear-engined past, and say hello to a front-wheel drive and water cooling. Everyone remembers the original Golf, but the K70 is the ‘quiet game changer‘ that’s all but forgotten.
There are visual and technological similarities with the Ro80, but to the man in the street, the two cars are chalk and quark. One is futuristic and elegant, the other is simple and conventional. The K70 is a Volkswagen ‘Cortina’, if you like.
Power was sourced from a 1,605cc water-cooled engine, although an 1,807cc version was introduced in 1973. As Martin Buckley points out, by then, the K70’s fate was sealed by the arrival of the Volkswagen Passat. A year later, the K70 had gone.
Different to all the others
© Provided by Retro Motor k70 plate
There’s no doubt that the Passat contributed to its demise. Maybe the NSU parentage was another factor. It’s also worth remembering that the Audi 100 was only a little more expensive than the K70, while the Cortina mopped up the mainstream market. The K70 looked a little lost.
‘A new Volkswagen, different to all the others made to date – the VW K70,’ declared the press folder. Around 800 UK buyers took the plunge on a car that laid the foundations for the dominance of the Golf and Passat.
Finding one for sale is tough, although we recently spotted a 1971 example for £8,000. It looks superb, like a straight-edged NSU Ro80, with great interior space and the all-round visibility.
The Beetle, Golf and ID.3 are credited as representing the three chapters in Volkswagen’s history. Air-cooled, water-cooled and electric. But the K70 deserves its place in the company’s story, simply for being cool.
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Keyword: Volkswagen K70: the story of a ‘quiet game changer’