In California, The Wait For Hybrids Keeps Getting Longer - SF Chronicle

[hatrack]

Fueled in part by growing concerns about gas prices and worldwide oil production, along with increased sensitivity to environmental issues, sales of hybrid automobiles nationwide are on pace to nearly double this year.

Here in the Bay Area, car buyers are waiting upward of three to four months for delivery of a Toyota Prius, a popular hybrid that the manufacturer says can travel 60 miles per gallon.

But before you rush off to buy stock in Honda or Toyota -- the only manufacturers of these cars that run on both gas and electricity -- keep in mind that even with an estimated 40,000 sales this year for both automakers the business for such vehicles is more niche than rich. Going out 10 years, perhaps 1 million of the 17 million new vehicles purchased in the United States will be gas-electric, according to industry analysts J.D. Power and Associates.

"It won't be mainstream in the consideration of most people because most do not care enough about fuel economy,'' said Walter McManus, of the Troy, Mich.-based research firm. Apparently, some folks in the auto industry didn't get that memo. Honda and Toyota are about to get some serious competition for the hybrid dollar, including a number of SUV models, from the likes of Ford, Mercury, Chevrolet, Dodge and even Toyota's Lexus Division.

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The mantra at dealerships like Toyota of San Francisco, which leads in hybrid sales among 63 Northern California Toyota dealerships (hybrids now represent 20 to 25 percent of its total sales), is that the technology has crossed into the mainstream of consumer consciousness. "That's why there is such a demand for the car,'' said Russ Mobley, who heads new car sales at the dealership and must tell all those Prius buyers about the three- to four-month wait. The dealership has accepted deposits on more than 600 of the 2004 Prius models and delivered half of them. Orders are up at the dealership's two locations to seven or eight per day, compared with three or four per day two weeks ago. There were 12 orders on a recent Saturday."

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[Frangible]

1. I'd love one

But I fear driving in a Montana winter without 4WD/AWD.

[phantom power]

2. "most people do not care enough about fuel economy"

I wonder if that's the same way that people supposedly didn't care about good quality-control, back in the 80s.

[mouse7]

3. Market is clearly there for hybrids. Auto makers won't fill it.

As usual, the auto makers allow the oil companies to set their agenda for them.

If an auto maker was smart, they'd get into the hydrogen delivery business and make the damn money themselves.

[madrchsod]

4. i guy i work with

is thinking of buying one,i would buy one if i had the money..the future is now. screw the saudis