(Thu 25 Oct 07)

Audi has revealed its metroproject quattro supermini concept at the Tokyo Show. This remarkable little machine - which seems to be aiming a crossbow at the MINI - is officially described as a "design study", but that usually suggests little more than a fancy drawing, and there's a lot more to the metroproject than that.

Under the bonnet there's a new version of the 1.4-litre TFSI petrol engine which drives through the front wheels via an S tronic dual-clutch transmission. The TFSI unit produces 148bhp in this form, and another 40bhp comes from an electric motor which drives the rear wheels.

The benefits in terms of both performance and fuel consumption won't come as a big surprise. Audi quotes a top speed of 124mph and 0-62mph in 7.8 seconds, along with 57.6mpg combined economy and 112g/km of CO2 emissions.

If only the electric motor is used, there's enough capacity in the lithium-ion batteries to take the metroproject up to 62 miles. The only snag here - and it's one which almost certainly dooms the car to concept-only status unless Audi sorts it out - is that the batteries have to recharged from a power socket, though the system does retain energy created during braking.

The metroproject is significantly shorter than an A3, though it's nearly as high and almost exactly as wide. Passenger room should therefore be fairly similar, though luggage space is reduced to 240 litres thanks to the presence of the electric motor in the rear.

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