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Report: Audi Is Shelving A1 and A2 Electric Projects
Volkswagen AG's Audi unit has cancelled plans to produce the A2 electric city car and appears likely to drop the A1 e-tron extended range hybrid, according to Car, which cites unnamed sources.
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Volkswagen AG's Audi unit has cancelled plans to produce the A2 electric city car and appears likely to drop the A1 e-tron extended range hybrid, according to Car, which cites unnamed sources.
The U.K.-based magazine says Audi management doesn't think it can sell enough A2 EVs at the projected €40,000 ($50,300) price to make the project viable.
Audi showed the front-drive A2 in concept form at the Frankfurt auto show last autumn. The 12.5-foot-long four-seater was intended to revive the A2 nameplate, which adorned a piston-powered car produced by the company between 1995 and 2005.
Car says cost, complexity and the weak European car market also appear to have killed the A1 e-tron, an extended-range electric version of Audi's A1 small car.
Audi unveiled the e-tron iteration as a near-production prototype at the 2010 Geneva auto show. The company said the car could travel 30 miles on power from its 12-kWh battery and an additional 125 miles when a generator powered by a 20-hp gasoline Wankel rotary engine was used to partly recharge the lithium-ion battery.
Last year Audi said it expected to introduce its first EV in 2012 and derive 5% of its global volume from such cars by 2020.
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