Russian green car startup Yo-Auto may be boasting that it has 10 years’ worth of orders for its upcoming range of environmentally friendly minicars but the model on everyone’s lips, a planned natural gas hybrid, won’t be available at launch, according to a new report.

That’s right, the model powered by a series hybrid system with a rotary-vane engine that we reported on last month is said to be still in development and will reportedly miss the regular range’s production start date scheduled for the second half of next year.

Instead, Yo-Auto will start with models powered a conventional internal combustion engine. Nevertheless, the vehicles’ light curb weight of around 1,500 pounds or less should guarantee stellar fuel economy.

The gas mileage is said to be more than 60 mpg when running on that fuel; the cars will also run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to be stored in cylinders mounted in the chassis. Range if both fuel systems are filled is said to be around 680 miles.

When production finally does start, customers are expected to be able to choose from several different bodystyles: a sedan, hatchback and truck.

For more details, including Yo-Auto’s hybrid technology, check out our previous story by clicking here.

[Car Advice]

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