The May 24th issue of Time has an article (which I hope this link will get to you) regarding hybrids and other gas-efficient cars. Some of the talking points of the article: Comments that gas prices won't fall in the autumn because of increase in world-wide demand for gas. Pointing out that GM, after years of putting all their money on a long-range hydrogen fuel cell strategy, are now doing an about-face and jumping into the hybrid market -- idea is to "crank out 1 million hybrids by 2007." Hybrids don't have the high profit margins that SUVs and the big pickup trucks do (at least not yet.) But also suggests that the days of making these big profits on these vehicles may be over -- "glut of heavy metal" cars, market saturation of SUVs. SUV sales down sharply in April; Hummer sales tanked 25%. Chrysler is pushing their more fuel-efficient diesel-engine strategy with a new Jeep Liberty this summer.
It also mentioned that Prius's get an average of 43MPG while the Honda civic gets 48MPG. Not the right figures from my experience.
