NEW YORK — The weak dollar has claimed another victim: The Audi Q7 hybrid crossover won't be sold in the United States.

Johan de Nysschen, head of the Audi brand in the United States, said Audi could not make a business case for the electric/gasoline engine hybrid. The hybrid was scheduled for launch in early 2009, soon after the diesel Q7 goes on sale.

"If you look at the way the economics are going, it was a very hard car to make the numbers work," de Nysschen said in an interview at the New York auto show.

De Nysschen said a few Q7 hybrids will be available in the United States for the "commercial" market but would not elaborate.

"We will not do the hybrid Q7 as a conventional product offering," de Nysschen said. "We will have a very low volume of cars available."

The more likely hybrid candidate will be the smaller Q5 crossover, which debuts in the United States next year.

"That hybrid has always been in planning. The question is, again, volume potential," de Nysschen said. "We in the U.S. are more enthusiastic about diesels. Hybrids have a niche in this market. We are a small company and ask ourselves if we need to be in every niche."

Audi isn't disclosing the price of the Q7's diesel option. The diesel is expected to boost sales of the Q7, which have slumped in recent months. Through February, sales were 2,339, down 30.9 percent from the first two months of 2007.

The A4 compact diesel is likely to get the green light for the United States; board approval is pending. The diesel wouldn't go on sale until well after the Q7 diesel debuts because additional engineering has to be done for the United States, said de Nysschen. "We also haven't decided whether we do the V-6 or the four-cylinder diesel," he said, "so it will take some time."