NSU: История немецкого производителя мотоциклов и автомобилей

German manufacturer (1873–1967/1977)

NSU Motorenwerke AG, or NSU, was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and pedal cycles, founded in 1873. Acquired by Volkswagen Group in 1969, VW merged NSU with Auto Union, creating Audi NSU Auto Union AG, ultimately Audi. The name NSU originated as an abbreviation of "Neckarsulm", the city where NSU was located.

NSU originated as the "Mechanische Werkstätte zur Herstellung von Strickmaschinen", a knitting machine manufacturer established in 1873 by Christian Schmidt, a technically astute entrepreneur, in the town of Riedlingen on the Danube. The business relocated in 1880 to Neckarsulm. There followed a period of rapid growth and in 1886, the company began to produce bicycles, the first of them a 'high wheeler' or 'Penny farthing' branded as the "Germania". By 1892, bicycle manufacturing had completely replaced knitting machine production. At about this time, the name NSU appeared as a brand name. The first NSU motorcycle appeared in 1901, followed by the first NSU car in 1905. During World War I the company produced motorcycles and trucks for the German Army. In 1932, under pressure from their bank (Dresdner Bank), NSU recognised the failure of their attempt to break into volume automobile production, and their recently built car factory in Heilbronn was sold to Fiat, who used the plant to assemble Fiat models for the German market. From 1957, NSU Fiat cars assumed the brand name Neckar. During World War II NSU produced the Kettenkrad, the NSU HK101, a half tracked motorcycle with the engine of the Opel Olympia. They also made the 251 OSL motorcycle during the war.

A museum in Neckarsulm, the Deutsches Zweirad und NSU Museum, has many of NSU's products on display.

The NSU Prinz was also built in Yugoslavia (by PRETIS), Argentina (by Autoar) and Egypt, under licence. In Uruguay, the Prinz 4 was built by Nordex S. A., and a new model, the P6, combined the engine and mechanics of the NSU model with a separate body completely redesigned by Carlos Sotomayor. From 1970, the P10 was built as the successor model to the NSU P6. This had the larger engine of the NSU Prince 1000 and a 21 cm extended wheelbase.

The first "Neckarsulmer Motorrad" motorcycle was produced in 1901, using a Swiss Zedel single cylinder AIV (automatic inlet valve) motor with battery/coil ignition, clamped at the underside of a heavy duty bicycle frame (of NSU manufacture), with the crankcase slightly below and in front of the pedal crank. Specialized racing motorcycles were campaigned from 1905 in events in Europe, the UK, and USA. In 1907, British manager Martin Geiger rode an NSU in the inaugural Isle of Man TT, placing fifth. NSU had several successes in the Isle of Man TT races in the 1950s. In 1908, an NSU v twin took part in the Ormonde Daytona beach speed record races for cars and motorcycles, ridden by Eugene Gaestral, who returned with an improved machine the following year. During the 1930s, and in the mid 1950s, NSU was the largest motorcycle producer of the world, in its peak year (1955) producing 350,000 machines. NSU holds four world records for speed: 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955. In 1956, NSU brought a team of six motorcycles of different engine capacities to Bonneville, Utah, to set World Land Speed Records. They had success in all categories, and most notably raised the absolute motorcycle speed record to 211 mph, with Wilhelm Herz piloting the Delphin III, a fully streamlined motorcycle with a 500cc supercharged DOHC twin cylinder Rennsport engine. This machine still exists, in the Audi Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. The NSU Quickly was the most popular moped of its time. It was produced between 1953 and 1966 in over 1,000,000 examples and still can be found today all over the world as more than 60% were exported.

Bicycle production began in 1900 and continued into the early 1960s.