Mercedes-Benz may be forced to cancel (or at least delay) production of the company's hybrid M-Class sport utility vehicle because of a dispute with the company that's producing its batteries, according to Tuscaloosa News. "In a lawsuit filed in Birmingham federal court on July 30, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International accused Michigan-based Cobasys LLC of refusing to honor its commitment to produce the battery packs for the hybrid and misrepresenting the financial solvency of the company."

Mercedes is claiming that they have no alternative for battery production, and said that it will have to terminate plans to begin producing the car, which it was supposed to start doing back in June. The report said that Cobasys helped develop and, according to Mercedes, was to have produced nickel metal hydroxide battery packs for the M-Class hybrid. The result puts Mercedes in a similar position as Audi, who canceled their own Q7 hybrid SUV's U.S. release based on the weak dollar, leaving both automakers to stick with diesels as their only alternative-fuel SUVs.