According to sources, the production of the long-awaited Audi Q7 Hybrid, shown as a concept car as early as 2005, has been put on ice. Apparently this decision is based on a "lack of interest" from the customer base. Although Audi hasn't verified this, they did verify in March that the Q7 Hybrid wouldn't be coming to the US. The problem at that time was the low value of the dollar.
Now, I'll tell Audi about "lack of interest": I'm definitly not interested in buying a conventional petrol car today that guzzles 13 l/100km, and I can't see how the Q7 sales will rise without the introduction of hybrid technology, or other technology that will make the car independent from oil (such as ethanol or bio-gas, for instance). The oil won't become cheaper, you know, and people want to be liberated from the greasy paws of the oil industry.
On the positive side, Audi will be focusing on hybrid technology for the new A4, A5 and Q5, and this will probably involve lithium-ion batteries. Do we dare hope for an Audi Q5 Plugin Hybrid, with a range of 70-80 kilometers on battery power alone?
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