Ninety years after its original design, Audi has brought to light one of the most fascinating and mysterious projects in German automotive history: the Auto Union Type 52, also known as the “Schnellsportwagen.” A car that remained only on paper for decades and has now finally become reality thanks to meticulous historical reconstruction.
Created in 1934 as a road-going evolution of the legendary Auto Union Grand Prix cars, the Type 52 was conceived to bring the allure and technology of Ferdinand Porsche’s single-seaters to the road. The project featured an extremely advanced configuration for its time, with a mid-engine and three-seater cockpit, a solution that anticipated by decades concepts that would later become iconic in the world of supercars.
The heart of the car was a powerful sixteen-cylinder engine derived directly from Auto Union racing cars, capable of unleashing extraordinary power for the 1930s. The mechanics, combined with particularly refined aerodynamics, were supposed to allow the car to well over 200 km/h, making it one of the fastest road cars of its time.
The project, however, never reached production. Economic difficulties and the historical context of the time led to the definitive abandonment of the Type 52, which remained confined to the Auto Union archives in the form of technical drawings and original documentation.
Today, Audi has decided to revive that unfulfilled dream by creating a fully functional model, developed in full compliance with the original historical documents. The reconstruction was entrusted to the British specialists at Crosthwaite & Gardner, a company renowned for the construction and restoration of historic racing cars.
Officially presented in Lucca during the 2026 edition of FuoriConcorso, the new Auto Union Type 52 represents much more than a simple stylistic exercise: it is a window into what the automobile could have become as early as the 1930s. A visionary project that today finally recounts the technical and creative daring of the golden age of European motorsport.
Nicolò Mazzini x Promotor Classic Magazine