Hybrid Goomba
Hybrid Goomba

Hybrids: Stuck in a Rut?
There was a time a couple of years back when the world was gripped in an oil availability crunch and an environmental wave of emotion that vaulted hybrids to the top of the list as a gotta-have-it technology. Gasoline prices had climbed to then-unheard-of levels, and the Toyota Prius -- one of the first hybrids available and the most iconic -- was hailed as not only the answer to the issues of the time but a harbinger of an inexorable trend toward hybrids. Auto journalists around the world applauded Toyota and Honda for their pioneering hybrid efforts while chiding companies like General Motors for lagging the field in this virally important area. Many were convinced that a major switch to hybrids was inevitable.

Who Are These Hybrid Buyers?
Luxury consumers don't typically purchase a non-luxury vehicle. That seemingly self-evident fact is a truism in the auto industry. Put another way, people with money generally show it with their vehicle purchases. The well-to-do are just not likely to buy a Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota or Honda. But now a new study from Acxiom Corporation demonstrates that one type of vehicle -- the hybrid -- is standing that time-tested adage on its head. Well-heeled customers are purchasing Toyota Priuses, Honda Civics, Ford Escapes and other non-luxury hybrid vehicles in significant numbers, and it could have a profound effect on the entire vehicle market.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Four year ago when General Motors put its reputation on the line by introducing the GM EV1 electric vehicle it seemed as if vehicles powered by batteries would be the answer to the long-term problem of polluted air. There is more than a little debate over how much of our air pollution is actually caused by moving sources (read cars, trucks and buses), but there is no doubt that a significant percentage arises from these sources, even though the gasoline-powered cars of today put out just a tiny amount of pollutants compared with their predecessors of the 1960s, so the introduction of the EV1 as a car for the general public was a significant step. But, as it turns out, it might have been a misstep.

Hybrid Vehicles
The first two gas-electric hybrid vehicles to hit the American market -- the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius -- were greeted with a collective yawn. It wasn't that the vehicles weren't good. Indeed, they were remarkably good, especially when compared to the nearly useless pure electrics like the GM EV1 that preceded them. But neither Honda nor Toyota was prepared to blanket America with hybrid vehicles. In the first place, they didn't have the production capacity to sell more than a few thousand Insights or Priuses a year. And, second, theY wanted to keep the introductions fairly quiet just in case one of the cars turned out to have terrible technical teething trouble. (Say, that three times real fast.)

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Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Four year ago when General Motors put its reputation on the line by introducing the GM EV1 electric vehicle it seemed as if vehicles powered by batteries would be the answer to the long-term problem of polluted air. There is more than a little debate over how much of our air pollution is actually caused by moving sources (read cars, trucks and buses), but there is no doubt that a significant percentage arises from these sources, even though the gasoline-powered cars of today put out just a tiny amount of pollutants compared with their predecessors of the 1960s, so the introduction of the EV1 as a car for the general public was a significant step. But, as it turns out, it might have been a misstep.

America's First Hybrid Electric
On September 23, 1999 American Honda Motor Company unveiled its Insight, the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle available in America. The little two-seater coupe was immediately lauded for its eye-popping fuel mileage numbers - 70 miles per gallon on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tests. In fact, those startling fuel efficiency figures all but over-shadowed the fact that the Insight represented a breakthrough in ultra-low emissions in a car that could operate well with our current fuel delivery and highway infrastructure. Of course, the current infrastructure proved to be the bane of highly visible "pure" electric vehicles like the General Motors EV1. That vehicle's limited range and the nation's lack of recharging stations m ...

Hybrids: Stuck in a Rut?
There was a time a couple of years back when the world was gripped in an oil availability crunch and an environmental wave of emotion that vaulted hybrids to the top of the list as a gotta-have-it technology. Gasoline prices had climbed to then-unheard-of levels, and the Toyota Prius -- one of the first hybrids available and the most iconic -- was hailed as not only the answer to the issues of the time but a harbinger of an inexorable trend toward hybrids. Auto journalists around the world applauded Toyota and Honda for their pioneering hybrid efforts while chiding companies like General Motors for lagging the field in this virally important area. Many were convinced that a major switch to hybrids was inevitable.

Hybrid Vehicles
The first two gas-electric hybrid vehicles to hit the American market -- the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius -- were greeted with a collective yawn. It wasn't that the vehicles weren't good. Indeed, they were remarkably good, especially when compared to the nearly useless pure electrics like the GM EV1 that preceded them. But neither Honda nor Toyota was prepared to blanket America with hybrid vehicles. In the first place, they didn't have the production capacity to sell more than a few thousand Insights or Priuses a year. And, second, theY wanted to keep the introductions fairly quiet just in case one of the cars turned out to have terrible technical teething trouble. (Say, that three times real fast.)


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