On Saturday, September 29, the last Toyota hybrid with a Federal tax credit will be sold. Except for the "YES!" from the buyer and sales critter "Made quota!", there won't be hardly a peep elsewhere.

The hybrid skeptics will be hoping "Oh PLEASE let there be a dip in October sales!" because the tax credit is one of their last justifications for hybrid sales. Of course Toyota squashed that by opening the production lines as the tax credits ramped down. I suspect the subsequent sales surprised even Toyota and certainly put a stop to hybrid skeptics claims in this area.

Supporting fuel efficient vehicles makes good sense and I'm not terribly worried about how. But I don't regret loss of the new car, tax credit especially if we could replace them with operational efficiency policies. That is to say, policies that would reward those who achieve higher efficiency.


Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
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