Audi is building a hybrid version of its A8 flagship luxury sedan

The best example of having your cake and eating it too is the A8 hybrid that Audi announced it'll begin building in 2012. Audi's flagship luxury sedan boasts a Bang & Olufsen sound system and Google Earth integration into the navigation system. And with its crossbreed system, it also earns 44 mpg under the European test cycle.

The hybrid version from the A8 will use Audi's direct-injection turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder, which in this software produces 208 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. Audi replaces the torque converter within the eight-speed automatic transmission with a 53-horsepower electric motor, which can drive the vehicle by itself for almost 2 miles at 37 mph.



Total system result is 242 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque, which gets the crossbreed A8 to 62 mph in 7. 7 seconds. An 81-pound lithium ion electric battery, with an output of 40 kilowatts, sits in the trunk. Expect this particular battery to intrude on trunk space.

The A8 hybrid has not been confirmed for that U. S., and the European test cycle tends to produce higher fuel-economy figures compared to U. S. EPA city and highway testing procedures. If Audi brings the A8 hybrid towards the U. S., its rated fuel economy may drop into the 30s.

Included in the Volkswagen Group, Audi can draw on hybrid technology previously used in the actual Volkswagen Touareg hybrid. For that vehicle, Volkswagen used a supercharged direct-injection 3-liter V-6, developing a hybrid drive system focused more on performance than fuel economy. It can be done that a U. S. A8 hybrid would use this more powerful program.