Kia officially launched 2011 Optima yesterday - and announced HYBRID version will arrive in 2011

Nice! The Civic hybrid is crying right now!

 

the rims are fugly and tasteless


please change them kia


2012 model year subaru will have their hybrid

 

All these auto makers coming out with hybrids and electric cars are a few years too late. Where were they 2 years ago when gas was $5/gal (US)? Now that gas has stabled for the last 2 years they just started making hybrids? I realize that that they need time to R&D. They should have started their R&D back in 2004 when gas reached a record high back then of $2/gal(US). If they did, they could have launched the hybridmaniac in the summer of 2008 when gas was at a record high. There would have been more variety of hybrids on the road today.
Better highway mileage better suits American driving styles? how about keep the 39mpg highway and up the city to 45? Better yet, how about make a vehicle dedicated to achieve the best MPG, say over 100mpg without plugin? Many auto makers make dedicated sports cars to achieve the fastest acceleration and not include the basic amenities to reduce weight like a radio or something.
So far all these automakers are building cars trying to compete with the Prius. They've all failed. If they a car that gets over 60mpg, Prius might be in trouble but I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon.

 

Subaru had theirs in 2005

Subaru develops Turbo Parallel Hybrid for possible 2007 Legacy Hybrid — Autoblog

that would have been a lot more fun to drive

 

Did you read the first post? The Sonata and Optima hybrids are designed to compete with the Camry and Fusion hybrids not the Prius. That car is currently in development and will come later. Hyundai has become a force to be reckoned with. When they do release their Prius competitor I would expect it to be a very interesting vehicle.