NSU RO80

1967-’77: aesthetics ruined by early round headlights

A while after stealing the show at the 1967 Frankfurt IAA, the advanced Wankel-engined Ro80 found its way to the UK, with the first imports being sold at a high price in LHD form only. By the time that RHD build got under way, the Ro80 was already gaining a reputation for lunching its rotary engine. So the last thing this daring, ultra-modern saloon needed to turn potential executive buyers away was a quartet of ugly, ill-conceived round lamps, replacing the harmoniously aerodynamic units found in LHD markets – excluding the US, which shared the UK’S gawky quad set-up, due to local lighting regs. By ’71, UK Ro80s had received the correct, stylish headlights designed for it, by which time the NSU’S thirst and engine reliability problems had damaged its British market potential beyond redemption. Anorak fact When the Ro80 was introduced, NSU (GB) Ltd of Shoreham, Sussex, was its UK importer, owned by Ukrainian-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Octav Botnar. Crippling warranty costs – plus Audi’s 1969 takeover of NSU – led Botnar to find another make to distribute, resulting in the foundation of Datsun UK, which became Britain’s best-selling imported car brand by 1974