Volkswagen EA 266
| Volkswagen | |
|---|---|
EA 266 |
|
| EA 266 | |
| Presentation year: | 1969 |
| Vehicle fair: | |
| Class : | Compact class |
| Body shape : | Station wagon |
| Engine: |
Petrol engines : 1.0–1.6 liters (37–77 kW) |
| Length: | 3870 mm |
| Width: | 1675 mm |
| Height: | 1430 mm |
| Wheelbase: | 2438 mm |
| Empty weight: | approx. 800 kg |
| Production model: | none |
The VW EA 266 , short for Volkswagen development order 266 , is the prototype of a compact class vehicle from the 1960s that Porsche developed for Volkswagen as a possible successor to the Beetle . Development began in the summer of 1966 and was canceled in the fall of 1971. The project is said to have cost Volkswagen around 250 million DM . Two vehicles still exist today.
history
In the mid-1960s, the then around 30-year-old concept of the VW Beetle with a central tubular frame and air-cooled boxer engine in the rear was considered obsolete, but VW had not yet developed a successor to series production. The board of directors under General Director Heinrich Nordhoff trusted in the continued success of the tried and tested construction principle, although Volkswagen's market share threatened to shrink. After earlier studies based on the Beetle and the EA 48 small car project , the Porsche development department, with which VW was closely associated from the outset, did not produce designs for a Beetle successor on behalf of Nordhoff until January 1967. As a Porsche development in 1866, the draft of a sedan with a liquid-cooled in-line four-cylinder built into the front and a gearbox on the rear axle was created. However, this proposal was rejected, as was the design of a car with a transverse front engine and front-wheel drive, which Nordhoff had commissioned from the Swiss engineering firm Hermann Klaue in 1963. The test vehicle for various engines was an Opel Kadett .
In 1969, Nordhoff's successor Kurt Lotz gave Porsche the development order 266 for the development of a Beetle successor. The engine was an inline four-cylinder with water cooling and OHC valve control , which was installed as an underfloor engine lengthwise in front of the rear axle. An entire model family with sedans, roadsters, minibuses and convertibles was to be created on the basis of the EA 266. Engines with displacements from 1.3 to 1.6 liters and a power range from 65 to 105 hp (48 to 77 kW) were provided.
The mid-engine caused difficulties due to its position in the vehicle. Its heat and noise development were too high, accessibility for maintenance was limited and the weight distribution made driving behavior difficult to control, especially on wet roads. The VW board, however, stuck to the EA 266, as the mid-engine, which was still unusual at the time, was seen as a unique selling point in automobile construction that would ensure the company's economic success. Neither the technical problems nor scheduling difficulties and rising development costs seemed to deter the board from the EA-266 project.
As early as 1971 VW's profit had collapsed by 94% to 12 million DM, whereupon Rudolf Leiding replaced Lotz at the top of the group on September 24, 1971. By then, Porsche had built 50 prototypes. After only two weeks as the new CEO, Leiding broke off the EA 266 project. He had recognized that the costs for the EA 266 had risen so much that a production car based on the EA 266 would have had to be sold too expensively. Johann Baptist Schöllhorn , then VW supervisory board, criticized that the EA 266 should have been priced at the same level as the VW K 70 or Audi 100 in order to be economical. That would have meant a sales price of around DM 10,000. The development is said to have cost 250 million DM, other sources speak of 400 million or 200 million DM. According to Leiding, 50 gearboxes, 100 test engines and 48 EA-266 prototypes were to be destroyed. For this purpose, tanks were used, which rolled over almost all prototypes on the Porsche test site in Weissach. Two EA 266s have been preserved, one of which is in the Volkswagen Auto Museum .
Vehicle description and technology
The EA 266 is an approx. 3.9 m long sedan with front wheels individually suspended from wishbones and struts, a rear trailing arm axle, optionally two or four doors, a hatchback and a large tailgate. The volume of the front trunk is 300 liters, that of the rear 340 liters. Noticeable is a rectangular recess in the rear fenders above the wheel arches of the prototypes. The still preserved olive-green prototype (see picture) has ventilation slots for the engine in front of the rear wheels, but other photos also show a white prototype without these slots. The motor is installed under the floor under the rear seats in front of the rear axle and drives the rear wheels via a four-speed gearbox that can be shifted manually.
The following engines were planned: 1.0 liter displacement / 50 HP, 1.3 liter displacement / 65 HP, 1.6 liter displacement / 85 HP and 1.6 liter displacement / 105 HP, each in-line four-cylinder petrol engines with overhead camshaft, hydraulic Valve clearance compensation and battery ignition. With the most powerful engine, the car should accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in 8.5 seconds and reach a top speed of almost 190 km / h.
swell
Newspaper and magazine articles
- Christof Vieweg: Vain bearer of hope in Zeit Online . Released June 29, 2016
- Big laundry . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 1971, pp. 103-104.
literature
- Hans-Rüdiger Etzold: The Beetle - A Documentation. Volume 2: The Beetle Development from 1934 until today. From master model to world champion. 4th edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-7168-1613-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Rüdiger Etzold: The Beetle. Documentation II. 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-7168-1613-2 , pp. 227-239.
- ↑ a b c d e f Dream car archive - VW EA 266
- ↑ a b Big laundry, p. 103.
- ↑ Big laundry, p. 104.
- ↑ Purchase advice Audi 100 C1 (F104) The great hundreds from Audi . In: auto motor und sport . April 13, 2011.
- ^ VW K 70 (TYP 48, 1970 to 1975) purchase advice - susceptible to rust and unloved . In: auto motor und sport . 20th January 2014.
- ↑ Etzold, The Beetle - A Documentation. Volume 2, p. 237.
- ↑ a b The first Volkswagen Golf GTI will be based on Porsche . In: Autoblog.nl. November 26, 2014 (Dutch)
