Originally posted by More&Faster
as far as the cost of the hybrid system, the only indicator ive seen as to its overall cost is the difference in price between a standard civic sedan dx, and a civic hybrid.
civic dx: $13,010
civic hybrid: $19,650
those are base MSRPs off of honda's website. thats a total difference in price of $6640.
granted, the prices are likely to come down, in light of the article above.
still, i just dont see hybrids ever becoming mainstream, and maybe american companies agree. maybe honda and toyota, instead of being on the leading edge of technology, are only making these cars as a statement, like a marketing scheme to reinforce their image as technology leaders.
just a thought
No on all accounts.
The Civic Hybrid, if you did a bit more research on Honda's website, has all of the EX's features plus a few more and, from what I've read, rides better and is more comfy than it. Why the hell are you comparing it to the cheapo DX? The actual cost of the system, excluding the millions of R&D, is somewhere close to $2-3,000. At least that's what it's worth in the market today...I'm not sure that Honda is making a profit off of Hybrid sales.
Hybrids are the way of the future. They will be a stepping stone to fuel cell vehicles. When gas costs 3-4-5 bucks a gallon here like it does in Europe in 5 or 10 years, you'll be seeing hybrid cars at every corner. Marketing scheme? Are you on drugs? You think they're spending hundreds of millions to reinforce their images? There's this little thing called "finite resources", and pretty soon demand is going to be up supply's ass and you'll be wishing you had 40 MPG.