Audi Says It Will Bring Q5 Hybrid to Market Late This Year or Early 2011
By Scott Doggett March 1, 2010
On the eve of the 2010 Geneva Auto Show, Audi announced it will bring a Q5 Hybrid (the current Q5 is pictured) to market late this year or early next, which will make it the automaker's first automobile with a gasoline engine and an electric motor.
Speaking of Geneva, Audi said it will exhibit the A8 Hybrid for the first time as a concept car. Its CO2 emissions of 144 grams/kilometer (or 231.75 grams/mile) are the best figure in the full-size category.
Another world premiere in Geneva: Audi's A1 e-tron design study.
Rupert Stadler, chairman of AUDI AG, put it this way in a statement: "To accompany our high-efficiency TDI and FSI engines, we shall offer electric power in the best possible forms for a wide range of mobility needs. The hybrid driveline will be followed by all-electric vehicles."
Every year Audi invests about $2.8 billion in development projects, with the focus on continued progress in internal combustion engine design and associated areas. That'll be changing, Stadler said.
The A1 e-tron design study is a so-called "Mega City Vehicle." Like the sports cars in the same family, it is electrically propelled and has a range of more than 30 miles in city traffic. Its peak power output is said to be 102 hp.
When the battery's energy supply is exhausted, it is recharged by a range extender consisting of a single-rotor Wankel engine and an electrical generator with a charge rating of up to 15 kilowatts. The device gives the A1 e-tron an additional range of 124 miles, Audi says.
The mean fuel consumption is said to be about 123.8 miles per gallon.
Audi will also be displaying the A8 hybrid as an engineering study at the Geneva Motor Show. Its two power units - the 2.0 TFSI engine and the electric motor - have a combined output of 245 hp and a torque of 354.03 pound-feet. The average fuel consumption is said to be 37.94 mpg.
The Audi A8 hybrid uses the parallel hybrid configuration - the gasoline engine or the electric motor can propel it either separately or together.
The electric motor integrated between the 211-hp four-cylinder gas engine and the eight-speed tiptronic transmission can supply a further 45 hp to the driveline, as well as a vigorous 155.63 pound-feet of torque.
In the pure electric drive mode the car can reach a claimed 40.39 mph and cover a distance of more than 1.2 miles
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If the Q5 hybrid will be priced like the $65K or so Touareg Hybrid then I don't think anyone cares...
Let's hope it has a small 2.0 TFSI engine and a price competitive to the RX450h.
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