What if the NSU Prinz 4 came back as an electric car? The Audi EP4 Concept is the result.
This year, Audi is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its Neckarsulm site in a variety of ways. One such way is by re-imagining an old NSU favourite as an electric vehicle. The NSU Prinz was a model that was exceedingly successful in Europe back in the day. This week, Audi showed the world what the Prinz 4 would have looked like as an electric vehicle.
A Half-Year Long Project
Dubbed the EP4 concept, as in “Electric Prinz 4”, the vehicle is based on actual NSU Prinz 4 that had several rust spots. The first thing the team did when they received their donor car in January 2023 was to fix the body to start the project with a solid foundation.
The original powerplant of the NSU Prinz 4, a 2-cylinder 30hp petrol motor was stripped out. In its place is now a 240hp electric motor from the 2020 Audi e-tron. The battery pack was derived from the plug-in hybrid Audi Q7 TFSI e quattro model. As the model doesn’t feature a skateboard chassis, the battery has to be housed under front hood where the original fuel tank was located.
Air intake comes at the bottom of the bumper and heat escapes through a large opening in the hood. The tailgate is also part of the vehicle’s cooling solution and can be fixed in a half-open position. Taking inspiration from the NSU Prinz 1000, the electric motor is put on display where the carburetor funnels were once displayed.
While the body itself has been retained from the Prinz 4, Audi engineers decided to take the floor pan, axles and brakes from an Audi A1. This, along with a roll cage, creates a safe and suitable basis for the increase in performance coming from an electric motor swap.
Aesthetic Changes
Because the floor pan was so extensively modified the original body went through some extensive widening and changes. That being said, some elements from the Prinz 4 body were retained, such as the headlights, taillights, shoulder lines and roof line.
The body itself was painted in Suzuka Grey and Brilliant Black with “150” lettering applied to the side of the vehicle. They gave the EP4 muscular fenders and wide wheels wrapped in performance tyres to suit the car’s new identity. There’s also a rear wing in Signal Yellow that is attached to the roll cage THROUGH the rear window.
The roll cage is also finished in Signal Yellow, but the rest of the interior is painted black. There are Recaro Podium bucket seats for the occupants and a single board computer and screen work for all the vehicle’s instrumentation.
