The NSU Prinz was an automobile produced in Germany by the NSU Motorenwerke AG. The car was built from 1957 to 1962, and received two updates throughout its life.
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The Prinz was available in a saloon body, inspired by the Chevrolet Corvair but smaller in size, with an upright roof line and seating for four people. The noisy twin cylinder engine was located at the back where it drove the rear wheels via a "crash" gearbox (later versions gained synchromesh).
The NSU Prinz 4L replaced the original Prinz in 1964. It was shorter than the NSU 1000 (all in the rear, engine compartment and rear seating area). It was powered by a 2-cylinder, air-cooled engine in the rear. The NSU 1000 and the much higher-powered NSU 1000 TT had 4-cylinder aircooled OHC engines. These engines were very lively and highly reliable. Paired with the very low total weight, excellent handling and cornering, the NSU 1000 outperformed many current sportscars. When NSU was acquired by Volkswagen, the name was changed to Audi-NSU AG, and the small, rear-engined models were quickly phased out, as they were too competitive against Volkswagen's own Beetle. The Beetle was heavier, smaller inside, larger outside, with much lower power, inferior handling and with considerably higher fuel consumption.
In 1967, Soviet manufacturer ZAZ created a virtual copy of the NSU Prinz, named ZAZ-966. However, the engine an air-cooled V4 with 900 cc and 30 hp (1200 cc and 39 hp in later years), totally different from the NSU's unit.
