Personally, I would welcome ANY kind of technology that reduces emissions - IMHO CO2 is the most important one to reduce. While many technologies may be visible on the horizon, hybrid technology is available now, and exhibits phenomenal results. I don't see any other practical cars out there on the market being gobbled up by customers, that combine the performance, mileage and emissions of HSD and IMA cars. Sure, the future will bring more imrpovements, but we need to do something now, and I thank Honda and Toyota for having had the Insight and Synergy to push this technology onto the market.
Frankly I find the continuing apologism of other automakers disappointing, if not pathetic. I hear lots of arguments that hybrid technology is too expensive and does not make economic sense. At the same time, other automakers state that they cannot compete with companies such as Toyota that can throw so much money at developing such economically non-sensible technology. In my mind, all that says is that other automakers have not only missed the boat on this functional and practical technology, they must also being doing lots of additional stuff wrong, if they can't make enough profit even with the huge profit margins of SUVs, and without selling money losing hybrids, to develop future technologies. If hybrid technology is money losing to manufacturers, I would expect Toyota to post a loss and GM a profit. So what gives? What matters in todays market is an integrated strategy. If you can use profits from one division to develop technologies for another, kudos to you! If Toyota and Honda have the cash and smarts to develop this stuff and still make a profit, hats off to them!