Saturday, April 07, 2007

Rise of the hybrid?

I've been spending my Easter weekend in the United States, a land where car is king. I'm in the Washington DC area, and as one might expect gas guzzling SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks dominate the roadways. One thing that's surprised me, however, is the number of hybrid vehicles on the road as well. Now I know that Prius sales have been consistently rising, and I haven't done a proper count, but it seems like they're the single most dominant make of car out here (I've also seen 2 Honda hybrids and a Highlander hybrid as well, but the Prius is everywhere.) I'm not sure what it's like in other parts of the country (Ben?), whether there's a real environmental concern or it's that the hybrid premium price elevates them to status symbol, but this seems like a promising trend. Personally, I'm holding out for an electric car.


3 comments:

Anonymous Coward said...

Tesla roadster all the way

Anonymous said...

Same in Chicago, and I'd imagine same across most of the country, although hybrids/alternative fuels are probably more prevalent on the west coast these days (think SF or Seattle). The only exception would be the south and parts of the midwest in my estimation, where the pickup truck is king.

Kamel said...

I did an actual count today, when we drove into the city: 26 Prius, 4 Civic Hybrid and 5 Highlander Hybrid. Obviously I didn't count every other car on the road, but the frequency that I saw the prius was surprising.