Time to ramp up production:
Even as car buyers stampede for vehicles with better fuel mileage, there are fewer hybrids, the gas-stingiest, to go around.
While sales of conventional small cars soared last month, sales of the most popular gas-electric hybrids were flat or down because dealers had fewer left. There was plenty of demand, but hybrid assembly plants are running as fast as they can, and some are short of components, particularly batteries.
When hybrids first came out, I wondered if they would ever really catch on, as the history of the American consumer love affair with the car has had one clear trend- every year the cars have more and more horsepower. There is just something visceral about the American love affair with the car, and you see it with the vehicles that the American car manufacturers put out year after year- new Mustangs, hemis, SUV’s, etc. The need for a giant vehicle penis is something I never really understood, and in fact I have lived for several years without a car in a place that has sub-optimal public transportation. To each his own, but cars are just not something that motivate me or interest me that much- when I think of a car, I think of an expensive pain in the ass. Others, to say the least, think otherwise.
At any rate, I always wondered if hybrids would take off with the masses- of course, I was aware there would be a tipping point with gas prices, but I wanted to know if people would feel “cool” in a hybrid like they do in current gas guzzlers. That question was answered the other day while on the bus riding to work, and I looked out and saw a kid with a mullet and a Steelers jersey, riding in a Toyota Prius with WV plates playing air guitar to his obviously loud stereo while sitting at a red light.
As gas prices continue to rise and then stabilize at a price that puts our casual use of gasoline financially out of reach for most Americans, I bet we will simply redefine what is considered “cool” when it comes to cars. I predict it will be gadgetry or the like in the interior, but in 20 years we will probably look back at the cars of the past few decades (60’s-present) in sort of a quizzical “WTF WERE WE THINKING?” kind of way.
