I am as rabid a hybrid enthusiast as they come -- or so I have been told. But I disagree with the 90% of market outlook for HEVs.

Hybrid tech -- at least in its current form of all petrol for motive force, is a solution for driving large cars efficiently. Yes, I call the Prius and Civic large cars.

The near future of 5 - 10 years hence will be small cars with 1 Litre engines for people with small budgets, and Plug-ins for those that can afford them. I love Toyota and Honda -- they are already planning to bring to the US their super minis, a couple years ahead of what 95% of the US population can imagine today. Hooray for forward thinkers!

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."