Wooohooo! The NEW Toyota hybrids and concept cars.

[Dover]

http://www.toyota.com/html/shop/look_ahead/index.html

Anyone see any of the others coming out next year? I'm curious.

[Dover]

1. I like the look of that FJ Cruiser. Wish they had THAT body style

(but a smaller) on a hybrid!

I also wish Cooper made a hybrid....

It's so cool (pun intended) that the Priuus air conditions the car even when your not in it.

[La_Serpiente]

2. I can't wait till the price comes down

Screw Ford and everyone else. They aren't going to be popular with Environmentalists. I'm waiting for Honda to come out with a Honda Accord Hybrid.

American motormakers are stupid to think that people are going to drive a car with hydrogen in it. I don't think anyone wants their lives to be taken away by a ball of fire.

[Dover]

3. Have you seen or driven the hybrid Civic?

http://www.hondacars.com/models/model_overview.asp?ModelName=Civic+Hybrid&bhcp=1&BrowserDetected=True

And have you calculated the gas savings into your concern over the cost?

[La_Serpiente]

5. YES...THE SAVINGS ARE AMAZING!!!

When I saw the cost-savings analysis, it was unbelievable. However, I don't really want a Civic. But I have looked at the Civic though.

[La_Serpiente]

7. My only concern is that

WHERE the cars are made. Are they made in Japan? or some other country. I know Ford has a factory in Africa that makes its parts.

I say this because the US has been putting HUGE pressure on China and Japan to stop messing around with their currencies.

If Japan stops meddling around with their currency, it is possible that the Yen would rise and make exports even MORE expensive.

[Dover]

8. I honestly can't keep track anymore of which companies merged

or who's making parts for whom, but I think Japan makes parts for the "American" companies. Maybe someone else is more knowledgable.

American companies (Ford and GM) will have hybrids next year too. See the ABC News and WIRED articles below for details on each one.

[Dover]

9. The Ford Escape Hybrid SUV

http://www.fordvehicles.com/escapehybrid/index.asp?bhcp=1

Will be sold to consumers in summer 2004. The 4-cylinder vehicle will look just like its gas-guzzling counterpart, but can get up to 40 miles per gallon in the city instead of 23.

The Escape Hybrid can help fight city smog because it can be powered by the battery up to 40 percent of the time, according to Steve Lyons, president of the Ford division. Lyons said the company would produce approximately 20,000 Escapes per year.

Edmunds' Brauer sees the hybrid SUV as a unique pairing of two distinct worlds -- those who care about the environment and those who want independence at any cost.

"(The Escape) widens the appeal of hybrid cars, giving consumers a range of options," said Brauer. "It could give a boost to the hybrid market."

Ford also announced its next hybrid car would be a Futura sedan, due out in 2005. Ford's Lyons, like many industry executives, believes that hybrids "will be the technology to transition us from combustion-engine vehicles to fuel-cell vehicles." Fuel-cell vehicles are powered by hydrogen, but are not expected to be commercially viable until at least 2010.

Brauer said that higher pricing is limiting the hybrid market to only gradual growth. Despite government tax incentives and savings on gasoline, hybrids still cost more to own than conventional cars, Brauer said. Most consumers aren't willing to pay just to reduce pollution. "Americans are extremely environmentally conscious -- as long as it doesn't cost them anything."

--excerpted from the WIRED article http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,58516,00.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. If you have the knowhow

you can build your own hybred. Don't know about insurance, though. You want a lightweight body and room for the batteries.

[Dover]

6. The ABC News report on the 2004 hybrids

...The geopolitics playing out on the nightly news — as the U.S. showdown with Iraq edges toward war — have many consumers thinking about the source of the crude oil that's refined into their gasoline.

Still, consumers have traditionally not been willing to pay extra to burn less. Combined, Toyota and Honda have sold more than 52,000 hybrids since they first appeared in 1999. A slow start, considering that about 17 million new cars are sold in the U.S. each year.

Hybrid vehicles, which run on both a standard gasoline engine and an electric motor, cost about $3,000 more than equivalent cars that run only on gasoline. Diesels today add about $1,750. To recoup that extra cost over 10 years, the life of a typical vehicle, gas prices would have to rise to $2.50 a gallon and stay there for three to six years.

That might help explain why so many big SUVs remain on the road. Along with exotic sports cars, they show up at the bottom of every fuel-economy list.

Still, a shift in consumer thinking may be afoot. A recent study by J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing-information services firm in Agoura Hills, Calif., indicated that American consumers don't expect to recoup the whole cost of additional fuel-saving technology for hybrids or diesels. That could represent a green light for the automobile industry to deliver a broader range of high-mileage options.

"This will be a landmark year," for fuel-efficient vehicles, says Thad Malesh, J.D. Power's director of alternative-fuel research. Ford, General Motors, and Lexus each plan to sell new hybrid versions of certain SUV models over the next 18 months, in part to lower their fleet fuel-efficiency averages. Toyota also plans to install hybrid drive systems into about half of its vehicles over the next few years.

Growing Number of Options

Hybrid cars on the road today can get up to 55 miles per gallon — even in city driving. Consumers currently have a choice of three: the Honda Insight and Civic, and the Toyota Prius.

And hybrids aren't car buyers' only fuel-sipping option. Diesels, loathed by many for smelly emissions in the 1980s, are on the verge of a comeback, according to experts. Diesel engines operate about 20 percent more efficiently than gasoline engines. Currently, Volkswagen is the only manufacturer to sell diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S. Its largest diesel, the Jetta wagon, is rated at 42 miles per gallon around town and 50 on the highway — just a little less efficient than today's hybrids....>> MORE (article goes on to review each of the new hybrids)

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/Primetime/hybrid_030225_csm.html

And here is an article that WIRED did on the 2004 Green Cars, with a lot of good information:

Car Makers Go Green With Hybrids

http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,58516,00.html