Audi To Launch its 1st Hybrid Car in 2011

Audi plans to launch its first hybrid car next year. It will be based on the automaker's sport utility vehicle, the Q5.

The objective is to maintain the performance of the model (with a top speed of 222 km / h) while limiting consumption to 7 liters per 100 km and CO2 emissions to 160 g / km. The same technology will be available for the A6 and A8 in 2012, the French Automotive Constructors' Committee reports.

Audi aims to lead electric car market

Audi wants to play an important role in the future market of electric cars. The company's director of strategy for electrification of Audi Frank van Meel says within 15 years electric vehicles will no longer be niche products. They are not likely to disappear from the market. "Audi will play a leading role in this area. In 2020 we want to be the first manufacturer of premium electric vehicles," Meel added.

By 2020, Audi wants to sell more than 100,000 hybrid cars. Hybrids are the vehicles that combine an electric motor with a combustion engine. Depending on the mode of operation, they use only one or the other, or both simultaneously.