The Audi 50 (known internally as the ''Typ'' 86) is a supermini

economy car Economy car is a term mostly used in the United States for cars designed for low-cost purchase and operation. Typical economy cars are small (compact or subcompact), lightweight, and inexpensive to both produce and purchase. Stringent design const ...

produced by German automaker

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

from 1974 to 1978, and sold only in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Introduced two or three years after the Italian

Fiat 127 The Fiat 127 is a supermini car produced by Italian car manufacturer FIAT from 1971 to 1983. It was introduced in 1971 as the replacement for the Fiat 850. Production of the 127 in Italy ended in 1983 following the introduction of its replacemen ...

and the French Renault 5, the model was seen at the time as Germany's first home grown entrant in Europe's emerging "supermini" class.

History

Production

The Audi 50 was built by Audi NSU Auto Union AG at the former NSU factory in

Neckarsulm Neckarsulm () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Heilbronn, and part of the district of Heilbronn. , Neckarsulm had 26,800 inhabitants. The name Neckarsulm derives from the city's location where the Neckar and Sulm rivers ...

, Germany, and at the giant

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...

plant by

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

Rebadging as Volkswagen Polo

The car was

rebadged In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a man ...

six weeks later by

as the

Volkswagen Polo The Volkswagen Polo is a supermini car ( B-segment) produced by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1975. It is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, and estate variants throughout its production run. Histor ...

with a wider range of engine and other options. The

was launched in the home market in September 1974 and appeared in export markets, including the United Kingdom, a few months later.

Continuation of Volkswagen Polo, discontinuation of Audi 50

The car was offered as a three door hatchback with a

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...

, producing either or for the LS and GL models, respectively. The model was popular in

, both because of its generous specifications for a car of the time, and on account of its relatively low price. The

and

badged models were sold alongside each other for three years until 1978, but the cheaper

outsold the Audi 50 almost immediately, and Audi discontinued the Audi 50 in 1978, after a total production of 180,812 units. A planned facelift, which would have given the Audi 50 a look closer to that of the

Audi 100 The Audi 100 and Audi 200 (and sometimes called Audi 5000 in North America) are primarily mid-size/executive cars manufactured and marketed by the Audi division of the Volkswagen Group. The car was made from 1968 to 1997 across four generations (C ...

and

Audi 80 The Audi 80 is a compact executive car produced by the Audi subdivision of the Volkswagen Group across four generations from 1966 to 1996. It shared its platform with the Volkswagen Passat from 1973 to 1986 and was available as a saloon, and s ...

was never implemented, because of a holding company board decision that the

brand should concentrate on larger, more expensive cars. The

range continued to evolve, with the

Volkswagen Derby Volkswagen Derby was the name first given by German automaker Volkswagen for the commercialization of the booted saloon (three-box) version of its Volkswagen Polo Mk1 supermini, between 1977 and 1981 in Europe. Later, the Derby name was used ...

notchback version, despite being developed by Audi at

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Ba ...

, branded as a

and launched in 1977. Subsequently, the

has evolved through numerous generations to the present day.

Successor

The Audi 50 had no replacement in the supermini class, until the launch of the significantly larger

Audi A2 The Audi A2 (internally designated ''Typ'' 8Z) is a compact MPV-styled supermini car, with a five-door hatchback body style and four or five seats,ETKA official factory data produced by the German manufacturer Audi from November 1999 (for the 200 ...

in November 1999, which was also discontinued in August 2005. In August 2010, the Audi 50 was spiritually succeeded by the

Audi A1 The Audi A1 (internally designated ''Typ 8X'') is a supermini car launched by Audi at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. Sales of the initial three-door A1 model started in Germany in August 2010, with the United Kingdom following in November 2010. A ...

References

{{Audi (Europe) timeline 1970 to date 50 Subcompact cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1974