Hybrids and the Geneva Auto show

While hybrid cars haven't produced quite the buzz at the Geneva Auto show as they did at the North American International Auto show, they are still an important part of the mix. Reuters is reporting that while diesels have become the vehicle of choice in Europe, hybrids aim to challenge for markeshare.

Yoshio Ishizaka, executive vice president and board member at Japan's Toyota Motor Co., the world's second-biggest carmaker, stated "Hybrid is really not an intermediate technology. We think hybrid is the technology we have to see for the future," he told Reuters in an interview, predicting it would become the global standard and even power sports cars some day.

Toyota plans to sell about 20,000 Prius hybrids in Europe next year and will also be releasing the Lexus RX400h hybrid as well.

Even Ford, which currently sells the Escape hybrid, plans on Jaguar and LandRover hybrids in the next five years.

Still, others think that fuel cells might only be 10 years away, and that both diesels and hybrids are but a short term distraction. "...both the diesel car and hybrid car are a transition as we head to fuel cell cars or pure electric cars," states Laurent Aebi, a product specialist at Honda Motor Co.

"Fuel cell technology is far, far away, maybe 10 or 20 years," Toyota's Ishizaka replied. "Even if it catches on, fuel cells will still use much of the power technology developed by hybrids," he added.