One of the reasons they hybrid SUVs aren’t selling is that they don’t really save you any money. Even with the high price of gas, the $10,000 extra you pay for the hybrid version takes 10 years to recoup. The cars like the Prius that are only hybrids, and sell for about $22k are selling quick. Not much gas savings on even them if you’re primarily a freeway driver as they run on gas at speeds of over 35 or 40 mph. If you putter around town a lot you’ll primarily be using battery power. Putterers really save some $$, plus the tax credit helps.

An added note: here’s how clueless congress is. They didn’t approve the tax credit for 2006 for buying hybrids/electric vehicles right away. I was shopping for a car in late January of that year and the credit hadn’t been approved yet. Now they’re finally giving the appearance of thinking about doing something. Good grief! I wonder if there are still huge tax incentives for driving SUVs?

Not sure if I’d like to see a “national” car. We’re a might bigger than Germany, with a LOT more drivers than they had then. Theoretically a nice idea. Perhaps we could put all those unemployed factory workers in the mid-west back to work, instead of just extending their unemployment checks. (can you imagine… giving folks jobs instead of handouts!)