Sometimes you just get lucky and are in the right place at the right time. Chance often plays a role, especially in the lengthy development of new cars. Even though it only took a record-breaking 21 months to develop this model. The Audi 50 was the first small car from a German manufacturer to be launched in 1974, immediately after the 1973 oil price crisis.
The Audi 50 is also a blueprint for the almost identical VW Polo, which the Wolfsburg-based company launches seven months later. We were able to drive one of these small rare Audis to celebrate its 50th birthday.
Gallery: Audi 50 (1977) driving report
Addition downwards
Let's take a look back: the later 50 was to round off the lower end of the model range with the Audi 80 and Audi 100. As early as 1970, the engineers at Audi NSU Auto Union AG, 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 (particularly popular in Italy), whose end of production was in sight.
At the same time, Volkswagen in Wolfsburg is busy taking lengthy detours to arrive at the Golf as the successor to the Beetle. It is conceivable, although not proven, that the smaller Audi 50 provided double assurance, with the later re-designation 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, Bertone for the Audi.
Although the oil price crisis of 1973 with its empty motorways gave the small car class an additional boost, important impulses 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, countries that had always had an affinity for small cars, were particularly popular.
Audi 50 (1977) driving report
At the beginning of the 1970s, the developers knew exactly what was going on and therefore always had the following goal in mind: "A contemporary car must also be true to size", as can be read in the concept for the Audi 50. The key to success is the transverse-mounted engine. With it, the Ingolstadt-based company has created a car that offers a relatively large interior with an overall length of just 3.49 metres.
Clever lightweight construction
The 50, which weighs just 685 kilograms, is launched in two versions: as the Audi 50 LS with 50 PS and the Audi 50 GL with 60 PS, both with a 1.1-litre engine. The 50 LS reached 88 mph, the GL a respectable 94 mph at the time. While the 50 PS version ran on regular petrol, the 10 PS more powerful unit required premium fuel.
In 1977, this variant was replaced by a newly developed 1,300 cubic centimetre engine that ran on normal petrol. Hartmut Warkuß, who had also designed the Audi 80, was responsible for the design of the Audi 50. Warkuß draws a timeless, filigree shape around Ludwig Kraus' package. However, the Audi 50 never came in a five-door version.
Audi 50 (1977) driving report
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 26 October: the Audi 50 LS was priced at 8,195 marks, the Audi 50 GL cost 8,510 marks. The "little Audi" is initially planned and developed in Neckarsulm, later in Ingolstadt Technical Development, and is finally built at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg. By 31 March 1975, exactly 43,002 Audi 50 had rolled off the production line there, after which the series production of the almost identical, but initially significantly less well equipped VW Polo also began.
The first impression
Now let's take a look at the narrow and large steering wheel of the Audi 50 from 1977, which Audi Tradition has given us. The model series is rarer than many a Ferrari: 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 the search for spare parts.
Let's take a closer look at the Riad yellow birthday boy: the Audi 50 is 3.52 metres long, just 1.56 metres wide and 1.34 metres high. However, a wheelbase of 2.33 metres 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.
Audi 50 (1977) driving report
What else stands out? The trim moulding on the side that rises boldly towards the rear. The circular forced ventilation, which could be mistaken for the fuel filler cap (which is further down). Or the tail lights, which are delicately reminiscent of the EA 266 (a mid-engined Beetle successor model that was cancelled shortly before production). Boot space? 285 to 900 litres.
I take a seat in the cockpit. There's not much to discover here. A few buttons, rather soft seats due to their age and no longer very solid plastics, 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
It is not necessary, as the 1.1-litre petrol engine with overhead camshaft clearly communicates acoustically when it is 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 quicker than it is. Also because it hardly weighs anything at 720 kg. Okay, with a view to the thin doors, an accident is more likely to be avoided.
Audi 50 (1977) driving report
With 50 PS, I can zip through the countryside with a nice elasticity, everything feels very authoritative. "Can be handled with confidence", writes the brochure. Loosely translated: There are still reserves. And that despite 145 SR 13 tyres. 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, but therefore also cheaper than the Audi, which at the time was roughly on a par with the Golf.
In retrospect, car chronicler Werner Oswald sees the VW Group as being to blame: no model upgrades, and the Audi 50 was also systematically banished by dealers in favour of the Polo. Production of the Audi 50, of which a total of 180,828 were produced, ended in the summer of 1978. From then on, Audi concentrated increasingly on mid-range cars and segments above.
More cult small cars from the past:
The company had previously developed the VW Derby with 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 various generations. Audi did not relaunch a clever little car until 1999: the A2.
Gallery: Audi 50 (1974-1978)
