Audi, Volkswagen's luxury division, sees great opportunities in electric cars and will offer automobiles with no exhaust emissions within ten years, its top executive Rupert Stadler told the German weekly Welt am Sonntag. He said that he expects diesel and battery technology to dominate in the coming five to ten years. "By then we will offer cars without exhaust emissions," Stadler said.

Stadler also said that Audi's research capabilities were larger than its two top German competitors, BMW and Mercedes. "Electric cars offer great opportunities, which we have already seized on," he said without elaborating.

I'm extrapolating from that statement that they're going to release a full-on electric car, because there's no known way to completely eliminate emissions from diesel cars at present. It would be great if they can get them as low as they are on, say, a Prius or even a Civic, but right now manufacturers are just getting the 50-state certification happening for diesel as it is.

So far the closest they've shown in the electric direction is the Audi A1 concept car, which had a hybrid battery displayed conspicuously in the trunk floor (see photo).

(Via Reuters).