To respond to your post, Ben:

The Q45 sells bad because it's a $60,000 Infiniti. In this country, nameplate is everything in that price range. It should undercut the LS430 by alot; instead it is priced similiar to it. The people that buy these cars are extremely concerned about nameplate. In foreign countries, nameplate is not nearly as much of an issue.

I agree with your analysis on the luxury car buyers. However, keep in mind that alot of those car buyers (this ties in with what I said with the Q45) don't really care about specifications. What they care about is how it drives and how comfortable it is. And what the nameplate it. Acura has a bit more panache than Infiniti, but they have little when it comes to the luxury sedan segment.
While many members of the upper class will be the first to buy DVD players or flat screen TVs, this has probably more to do with their budget than it does their knowledge of products. Most wealthy people (especially the older people who tend to buy the Lexus LS, BMW 7, Mercedes S, and Infiniti Q) are not car enthusiasts. It is the car enthusiast that will buy into this technology first because they have read about it. The wealthy people will buy into it because of Consumer Reports/salespeople and, what the hell, they have money to blow. Think of it this way: Sony comes out with a brand new 20 Megapixel digital camera that promises the world and uses tons of new technology. The cost of this camera is about $2500. The wealthy people will naturally buy this first, and the technology will filter into the lower classes as the price drops. Past examples of this are the TV, VCR, Microwave, Air Conditioner and, most recently, Computers, DVD players, and Digital Cameras. Of course the wealthy will "adopt" to it first...they are the only ones that can afford it until the technology becomes cheaper/easier to produce.

And I agree about the competition...I expect about 20% of all cars sold to be Hybrid in 10 years, with it being closer to 50% in 15-20 years. It is a technology that has virtually no cons, except for the unknown reliability and the cost of the system.