DKW F102


The DKW F102 is a passenger car that was produced from August 1963 by the German manufacturer Auto Union. Superseding the Auto Union 1000, it was the last model branded as a DKW by the manufacturer and also the last West German production car equipped with a two-stroke engine.

Specifications

The last European built Auto Union 1000 and 1000S models were produced in July 1963 and the DKW F102 was presented as a replacement model in September 1963, although volume production of 2-door F102s began only in March 1964 with four door cars joining them on the production line in January 1965.
It was the last model developed before the Volkswagen take-over. Under Volkswagen control, the F102 provided the basis for the later Audi F103 models.
The F102 featured state-of-the-art two-stroke technology for its time and a unibody of modern design. Nevertheless, the market of the 1960s shunned two-stroke engines as old-fashioned. The F102 in consequence sold below the company's expectations and was the source of huge financial losses. Due to this situation Volkswagen was forced to implement a radical change in 1965. The production of two-stroke-engines was ended, with the last F102s produced in March 1966, by when 52,753 or 53,053 had been produced. The F102 was redesigned to accommodate a four-cylinder-four-stroke-engine. At this point the name of DKW was abandoned, and the F102 mutated into the Audi F103, the first new Audi model since 1938.