The NSU Ro 80, a car so advanced for its time that it effectively killed its parent company. Before Audi became Audi, it was – sort of – NSU and NSU was just as forward-thinking and technologically-driven as Audi is today. Got that? Right. So, the NSU Ro 80 was a four-door executive sedan produced from 1967 to 1977. Nothing unusual in that. That’s until we get to the engine. The Ro 80 was powered by a 113bhp 995cc twin-rotor Wankel motor, driving the front wheels. This made it the second mass-production car in automotive history after the Mazda Cosmo to run this engine configuration. Whilst refined and quiet, the Ro 80’s engine would prove to be its downfall. It would rev quietly and quickly to very high engine speeds, thus causing severe damage to the engine’s components. Whilst NSU resolved the problem on later models, the Ro 80’s unreliability saw the company hemorrhage its limited finances on fixing the reliability issues and placating disgruntled buyers. By 1969, the cash-strapped NSU had been taken over by Volkswagen and in 1977, NSU became what we know as Audi today.