They were the best of times they were the worst of times, and now for the Audi A6 Hybrid there will be no more time as the age old maxim “Vorsrpung Durch Technik” has failed to spark the interest of the green brigade charlatans. The Ingolstadt company is privately withdrawing the A6 hybrid from the market.

The A6 hybrid was launched in 2011, powered by a 2.0-liter TFSi, 211bhp, four cylinder engine and a 54bhp electric motor, 4,000 units were sold worldwide over three years.

All 4k units were sold in the far east and not Audi’s primary target of North America. So it seems saving the world is not financially viable if you can’t sell enough hybrids, market forces are more powerful than mother natures earth, wind and fire.

Audi will now focus their attention on plug-in hybrids although hybrid powerplants do live on in the current generation A8 and Q5.

In other Audi-related news, the Audi A4 and Q7 replacements have apparently been delayed until the summer 0f 2015, the Q7 is reportedly being delayed for poor design realisation.

A change of design chiefs within Audi has delayed the launch of the new Q7 and insiders say the original styling was too aggressive.

Marc Lichte, Audi’s current new design chief, has returned back to the drawing board. Insiders have revealed that the original Q7 design was aimed at Russian tastes. We reckon the “insiders say” is journo code for “we are making things up”. Or phone hacking.