Hybrid cars % of all new car sales
1.San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose 9.4%
2. Monterey/Salinas, Calif. 8.84 %
3. Eugene, Ore. 7.89%
4. Santa Barbara, Calif. 7.5%
5. San Diego, Calif. 7.13%
6. Eureka, Calif. 6.97%
7. Los Angeles 6.62%
8. Chico/Redding, Calif. 6.06%
9. Palm Springs, Calif. 6.03%
10. Portland, Ore. 5.95%
My trusty 2001 Prius is still going strong. A Toyota salesman who lives in the building saw my car and asked what it was. He’d never seen a 2001 Toyota Prius, apparently!
Nationwide, hybrid sales are stubbornly stuck at about 3% which makes them a blip overall.
Mainstream hybrids have two shortcomings for an area like mine: No FWD/AWD, and too costly. Consider: the median income for my county is about 55% of the federal poverty level. At their current cost, hybrids are a luxury we can’t afford.
Some SUV hybrids have 4WD now. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_sbs_suvs.shtml
Yes, cost is still an issue. Maybe in 5-10 years hybrids will be truly competitive on price.