Audi Metroproject

Audi is one of a number of manufacturers queuing up to embrace hybrid technology and, as is usually the case with its show cars, the Metroproject is a thinly disguised prototype of a production model. In this case it is the MINI Cooper-rivalling A1, which is due on sale in 2009, and it has two motors – a petrol unit in the nose driving the front wheels, and an electric one at the back to drive the rear wheels, hence neatly providing ‘quattro’ all-wheel drive as well. The petrol engine has 150bhp, the electric powerplant a further 41bhp but the headline-grabbing claim is that it will do 100km at 100kph (62 miles at 62mph) on electrical power alone.