Audi's baby having electric dreams

Date: 31 March 2010

Audi has given a strong hint that its plug-in petrol-electric hybrid A1 E-tron concept car will be developed into production, and could be offered within three years.

The new baby Audi, designed to take on the Mini, arrives in November from £13,000, and the E-tron version, driven by an rechargeable electric powertrain backed up by petrol generator, is capable of 50km in pure electric mode, and an overall 45g/km emissions figure and nearly 150mpg on the official test.

"Audi very rarely shows cars it doesn't make," said a spokesman who also pointed out that the concept shared exactly the same bodywork as the production car, meaning no design changes to morph it into a real model.

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