They are environment friendly!!

They are cheaper to maintain on the long haul!!

They help you to save on your tax payment!!

….There were myriad reasons why so many people thought it worthwhile buying a hybrid car!

The net result is: Starting from the year 2000, till mid- 2006, the sales curve of hybrid cars depicted a definitive upward trend. However a fall in the fuel price had somewhat interfered with this steep growth (within August to November the sales fall to 19,000 to 32,000).

Cut to 2007. Scenario has changed a bit…tax incentives, at least for Toyota cars are fading out, but people have started to take environmental factors more seriously. Under this circumstance there zoomed in another factor in a rather big way and that relates to the gas price!  According to a survey conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), Gas prices will average slightly more than $4 a gallon by 2015 and just over $5 a gallon by 2020.

With soaring gas price, the fuel economy and emissions regulations are going to be even stricter over the next decade, not in the USA alone, but also in Japan and in the EU countries.

And gas prices during the next few years are going to determine the fate of hybrid cars in a big way.

Keeping with the gas price/pollution control regulations factors, the leading auto manufacturers, especially Toyota and Honda…two world leaders in manufacturing hybrid cars are going to give special emphasis on more environment-friendly greener and cleaner cars, reports Japan Times.

The three US biggies— GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler unit are also planning to take green route for competing with Japanese manufacturers in the face of soaring fuel prices in the forthcoming decades.

However, Toyota is one step ahead: It has already started thinking about incorporating alternative technologies apart from their usual gasoline-electric hybrid. As the experts predict; the environment protecting technologies will emerge as the ultimate winners. While fuel cell vehicles hold no such hope for commercial viability in the near future, the ethanol powered cars have earned relatively greater popularity particularly in the countries like USA.

The ‘J’ factor is expected to rule the hybrid market in these coming years too with the Japanese automakers fast catching up with the new technologies. “(Japanese automakers) are working to develop the technologies, but it is too heavy of a burden to pursue all of them,” as declared Fujio Cho, vice chairman of Toyota and chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, in the recent past. The survival secret of hybrid cars in the following years lie in better gas mileage (as for instance, the next generation Prius can offer you a princely 90+ mpg) and in the plugging in technology.

To summarize it all, the future hybrid cars are going to retain their popularity over the coming years with their green features such as ultra-low emissions and fuel efficiency. And the next generation hybrid cars are targeted at the consumers who are more sensible towards environment and for whom hybrid means necessity, not indulgence in luxury.