4x as many hybrid sales by 2012

Hybrid sales are just getting started

While a lot has been written about declining interest in hybrid vehicles recently, the truth is that hybrid sales are growing and will continue to grow rapidly. According to Kiplingers, by 2012 hybrid sales will increase by 4 times.

Additionally, around that same time, Toyota has claimed that the price difference between hybrids and conventional vehicles might not even exist any more, or it will at least be very minimal. Consequently, if you could purchase a vehicle, such as a Toyota Camry hybrid, rather than a regular Camry, it seems obvious that most consumers would choose the vehicle that is 30 percent more fuel efficient.

Earlier this week I wrote that critics and automakers underestimate hybrids at their peril. If hybrid costs decline as the technology gets better and gas prices increase, the future certainly will be - as Toyota claims - all hybrid.