Will the Prius and Civic Hybrid be gobbled up in even more numbers than before as consumers are shocked by the volitility of gasoline prices and the prospect that prices will remain high for a lenghty period of time?

I believe the answer is YES.

August sales of the Prius set a record of over 9000 and the HCH were around 4400, also a record, and this came before Katrina. (Honda Accord Hybrid also set record--around 2300 units. I don't know what Jetta diesels did.)

If you desire a hybrid, it would seem that now is the time to act before Prius gets even more scarce, the 2005 HCH's sell out and preorders for the 2006 HCH's turn into lenghty waiting times.