Wayne,

Great points all around - you've been in this game a lot longer than I have. But it still remains that it is not reasonable to assume that ALL purchasers of California Hybrids are purchasing that vehicle in place of a lower emission car.

And remember - a good number of the cars in Cali are purchased in other states due to nomadic tendencies of the populace and are thus not Cali emission cars.

IF in fact ALL Hybrid owners could have purchased a lower emissions car, then I guess Hybrids are just polluting the air in an unreasonable fashion and should be outlawed !!!

Whether Hybrids are a significant enough number to make a difference is not really provable one way or another; can only be speculated.

I choose to speculate that they are helping, since when SOME of the usage of the car is during times when NO EMISSIONS are present, and when "NO OTHER NON-HYBRID CAR CAN SAY THAT" then it's obvious that the car is cleaner, greener, than a comparable car that emits ALL THE TIME it is running. ( I know, I know, if those two compared cars has the Hybrid as being a much dirtier car from the outset the comparison is null and void, but I am looking at comparing cars in the same general area as far as clean.)

So we both have good points, but it is still undeniable that Greener cars help keep the air clean in the presence of other factors, and Hybrids, IN GENERAL, are cleaner than MOST of the cars for sale out there.