Sometimes, you just get lucky, and just so happen to be in the right place at the right time. Chance often plays a role, especially in the lengthy development of new cars. Audi timed the market perfectly, taking 21 months to develop the 50, the first small car from a German manufacturer. It debuted in 1974, following the 1973 oil price crisis.
The Audi 50 is also a blueprint for the almost identical Volkswagen Polo, which the Wolfsburg-based company launched seven months later. We were able to drive one of the now rare small Audi models to celebrate its 50th birthday.
Addition Downwards
Let’s look back: The 50 was meant to round off the lower end of the model range, pairing nicely with the Audi 80 and Audi 100. As early as 1970, the engineers at Audi NSU Auto Union AG, which was founded in 1969, set to work, led by Chief Technical Officer Ludwig Kraus: A successor was needed for the tried-and-tested NSU small cars around the Prinz 4, which was particularly popular in Italy, whose end of production was in sight.
At the same time, VW in Wolfsburg was busy taking time-consuming detours to arrive at the Golf as the successor to the Beetle. It is conceivable, although not proven, that the smaller Audi 50 provided another layer of security, with it later rebranded as the VW Polo. Incidentally, the Golf and 50 shared Italian design influences, even though the final designs were produced in Germany—Giugiaro for the Golf and Bertone for the Audi.
Although the oil price crisis of 1973, with its empty highways, gave the small car class an additional boost, important cars had already come before that. In addition to the Mini from 1959, models such as the Autobianchi A112 (1969), Fiat 127 (1971), and the Renault 5 (1972) from Italy and France came from countries that had always had an affinity for small vehicles.
At the beginning of the 1970s, developers knew exactly what was going on. The key to success was the transverse-mounted engine. With it, the Ingolstadt-based company created a car with a relatively large interior and an overall length of just 11.45 feet.
Clever Lightweight Construction
The 50, which weighs just 1,510 pounds, launched in two versions: the Audi 50 LS with 50 horsepower and the Audi 50 GL with 60 hp. Both came with a 1.1-liter engine. The 50 LS reached 88.2 miles per hour, and the GL a respectable 99.5 mph. While the 50-hp version ran on regular petrol, the extra 10-hp unit required premium fuel.
In 1977, this variant was replaced by a newly developed 1.3-liter engine that ran on regular petrol. Hartmut Warkuß, who had also designed the Audi 80, was responsible for the design of the Audi 50. Warkuß drew a timeless, filigree shape around Kraus’s package. However, the Audi 50 never came in a five-door version.
The Ingolstadt-based company presented the Audi 50 to the international media in Sardinia in the summer of 1974. It arrived at dealers for the first time on October 26, with the Audi 50 LS priced at 8,195 German Deutsche Marks and the Audi 50 GL at 8,510 marks. The “little Audi” was initially planned and developed in Neckarsulm, later in Ingolstadt Technical Development, and finally built at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg. By March 31, 1975, exactly 43,002 Audi 50 units had rolled off the production line, after which the series production of the almost identical but initially significantly less well-equipped VW Polo also began.
First Impression
The Audi 50 you see here is from 1977, supplied to us through the company’s classic division. This model is rarer than many Ferraris. Due to poor sheet metal and a lack of rust protection in the 1970s, the number of survivors in Germany is in the low three-digit range. Finding an Audi 50 is just as tedious as finding spare parts for it.
The Audi 50 is 11.55 feet long, 5.12 feet wide, and 4.40 feet high. However, a wheelbase of 7.64 feet and the transversely mounted engine provide a relatively good amount of space, even for tall people. The large windows and narrow roof pillars also help. You definitely don’t need a parking aid here.
What else stands out? The trim strip on the side, which rises boldly towards the rear. The circular forced ventilation, which could be mistaken for the fuel filler on the c-pillar. Or the rear lights, which are delicately reminiscent of the EA 266, a mid-engined Beetle successor that was discontinued shortly before production. Trunk space? 10.1 to 31.8 cubic feet.
I take a seat in the cockpit. There’s not much to discover here: A few buttons, relatively soft seats due to their age, flimsy plastics, and a steering column lever for the hazard warning lights. But at least there is a rev counter, which was once not standard in our LS version.
Nimble on the Road
That rev counter isn’t necessary, though, as the 1.1-liter petrol engine with overhead camshaft clearly communicates when it’s time to engage the four-speed gearbox. A British brochure from August 1977 wrote: “The pleasure of driving this compact car comes from its unusually lively acceleration.” In practical terms, the car hangs well on the throttle and feels faster than it is because it hardly weighs anything.
With 50 hp, I can cut through the countryside with a nice elasticity, and everything feels very engaging. “Can be handled with confidence,” writes the brochure. Loosely translated: There are still reserves. And that’s despite 145 SR tires. It is not without reason that the Audi 50 was also active in motorsport. At any rate, this car is in better shape at 47 than I was at 46. If it weren’t for the chrome, it would be hard to believe that the Audi is already so old.
Short Life with Continuation at VW
And yet the Audi 50 was only allowed to live for four years. The reason was the VW Polo, which looked exactly the same and went into production in March 1975. It was significantly less well-equipped and, therefore, cheaper than the Audi, which was roughly on par with the Golf at the time.
Car chronicler Werner Oswald sees the VW Group as being to blame in retrospect with no model upgrades, and the Audi 50 was also systematically banished by dealers in favor of the Polo. Production of the Audi 50, which totaled 180,828, ended in the summer of 1978. From then on, Audi concentrated increasingly on mid-range cars and the segments above.
Before this, the company had developed the VW Derby with a notchback, which appeared in 1977. Even though the Audi 50 was only on the market for a few years, it established the small car segment within the Volkswagen Group: Millions of the VW Polo were built in its subsequent generations. Audi did not bring a clever little car back onto the market until 1999 with the A2.
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