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.

Prius has been a waiting list since debut. It will just lengthen again, and entice dealers to jack up the price.

I suspect that HCH, particularly the 06 models when they come out, will not remain on dealer's lots. My crystal ball is murky regarding waiting lists.

Fuel efficient non-hybrid 4 cylinders will be the big winners: civic, accord, corolla, and camry. The variable-atkinson-like 06 non-hybrid civics strike me as the best value for the cost. I hope Honda plans ahead, and makes a couple million units.

BTW, Toyota has decided to bring the mini-compact '06 Yaris to the US from 2007. HOORAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And in other news, GM, Ford and Chrysler unveil plans for the FCG 450, a knock-your-socks-off 475 hp sports coupe with state of the art technology that allows up to 12 MPG. "Get the performance you need, without having to worry about the pump" Optimistic executives talk of sales in the hundreds, if not thousands.

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."

For sure, the supply of them is very small and limited compared to the total market. Used ones will be more desireable and appreciate in value if the supply of new vehicles is too low.

Hopefully they'll offer the idle stop feature as well. It'd be an easy way to one up the mileage from the Honda Fit, which will come out at the same time. Both of those models are extremely huge hits oveaseas. It'll be great to finally see them over here. The Yaris would be my top pick for a convential car. The exterior looks a whole lot better than the Fits.

If prices remain over $3.00 a gallon for more than a year, yes. If they drop by Christmas time, no. My dealer won't have any Civic Hybrids (2006) until November.

Currently it is hard to find gas prices over $3.00 (regular - 87) in my area. As long as I have a chance to get one, I'm happy

19,900 miles and (slowly) counting

Hopefully this will spur them to bring the Mini Cooper OneD over to the states too.

Of all of the tiny cars out there, that's my only "must have".

http://www.hoot-uk.com/content/launc...ini/one_d.html

I think in the hands of a hypermiler, 65MPG shouldn't be an issue

"Speed doesn't have anything to do with mileage. My truck has an overdrive gear for a reason." - Credited to an unnamed Freeper reguarding changing the speed limit back to 55MPH.

The Mini is certainly small, but that motor is WAY outclassed by the new Civic.

Mini-D:
75hp
0-62mph in 13.8 sec
EU combined cycle: 58.9mpg (imp)

2006 Civic i-CTDi
138hp
0-62mph in 8.9 sec
EU combined cycle: 55.4mpg (imp)

While the Mini gets marginally better fuel economy, it does so at the expense of being far slower than the new Civic. No way would I want to own a car that takes 14 seconds to hit 60mph, especially when one that's similar in cost does it in 9 seconds with almost the same fuel economy.

Do you have a link to find additional info?

But that's not the beauty of the Mini. It's the styling & the go-kart handling along with the mileage that I'm looking for. Personally I think the torque in the low gears would make the twistys fun & as it is I accellerate that slow in my insight, so nothing is lost there.

But that why, "to each his own".

"Speed doesn't have anything to do with mileage. My truck has an overdrive gear for a reason." - Credited to an unnamed Freeper reguarding changing the speed limit back to 55MPH.