Federal Incentives Help Fuel a Run on Hybrids 7/23/2006 Kathy M. Kristoff, The Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perf...1,255223.column Excerpts: "The bottom line: Costly hybrids are beginning to look like a steal. 'In the past, you would have sold the car before you'd break even on the gas savings,' said Paul Taylor, chief economist at the National Automobile Dealers Assn. in McLean, Va. But international events have pushed the price of crude oil — and gasoline — ever higher. The new tax credits, Taylor said, help to 'really change the economics...' Hybrid sales jumped 26% in the first six months of 2006 compared with a year earlier, with 116,994 hybrid cars and light trucks sold through June. That double-digit sales gain was especially impressive because 2005 was a record year. There's been a fourfold increase in hybrid sales since 2001, when hybrid vehicles became widely available, according to the national dealers association."
