Carmaker Audi said the success of hybrid vehicles, which shave around a quarter from fuel costs, hinged on faster U.S. sales growth, even though high prices at the pump mean they are enjoying rising demand.
"The future market development has only limited predictability so any decision (on hybrid models) is tainted with uncertainties," Marius Lehna, project manager for the hybrid Audi Q7 sport utility vehicle, told automotive engineers attending the Aachen Colloquium industry congress on Wednesday.
Around 70 percent of the some 283,000 hybrid vehicles sold worldwide go to buyers in the United States, compared with 21 percent in Japan and just 8 percent in western Europe, he said.
Global sales of hybrids cars -- which combine an electric motor and battery with a combustion engine -- have risen from around 25,000 in 2000 and 75,000 in 2003.
Still, the share of hybrids in the United States -- by far the world's largest car market with around 16 million to 17 million cars sold every year -- remains negligible at just 1.2 percent of all newly registered vehicles, according to Lehna.
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