Open Brainstorms

give them time. they are fairly new. when gas prices were low, no one really cared about them. but now they are becoming more popular. too bad they are expensive. you know the new Corvettes has better gas mileage than the nissan maxima. i just found that out. seems pretty cool

Critical mass

They are more expensive than same model gas.

Because they are butt ugly. Make a sexy looking hybrid and it will sell.

well coz they are more expensive and there isnt much variety

...coz they're freakish looking !!!....

US Manufacturers have no incentive to build them except off-shore competition; Big Oil will jump in and control/buy alternate fuels producers; The government has no incentive to intervene on behalf of individuals who would benefit

interest rates on the difference in cost between this car and a normal car can easily pay for the gasoline..

maybe hybrids are a dead end, it might be all bio deisel soon anyway

because more people than we think cannot afford a 20k vehicle

Study revolution

Because car manufacturers have such a large stock of regular cars that if they started full out advertising for hybrids that they wouldn't be able to sell what they have in stock. Also, it costs more to make a hybrid car right now than they are sold for. Improving technology and the means in which these cars are made should drive down the cost of production and increase incentive to advertise hybrids more. Also, to reach people that may think hybrids don't have the power their gas driven cars have, start marketing with subliminal messages of strength in vehicle (meaning make the commercials seemingly tougher and more ruggid for these products; it wouldn't hurt even to use the words tough and ruggid in these commercials)

But making a regular non-hybrid car pollutes just as much during creation so that's not a valid argument

Because the amount of pollution created during their creation is actually more than the amount that they "save" later over the course of several years.

Because gas hasn't yet reached $5/gallon.

savings are really not there for it to pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time

They cost more than a standard car and they seem to have less power. At least, that is how they are perceived. Likewise, we live in a nation controlled by the Oil Industry. They don't really want people driving Hybrids. It undercuts their profits.

They have not lived up to the hype.

New equipment increases risk that bugs haven't been shaken out yet

More equipment increases risk of higher maintenance cost

to be effective they need to be small and light - which scares the soccer moms

The Big Companies are not promoting them enough

People are selfish and don't care...the environment is always someone else's responsibility

People perceive them as somehow more complicated or less user-friendly/convenient.

because there is not enough variety of the hybrid models available

Maybe people don't understand their advantages.

Are they being marketed to the right audience?

May be not enough financing options are available... tie up with an environmental agency to create subsidized financing options

Maybe we need to retro-fit existing cars with hybrid engines

Maybe gas is not expensive enough

Maybe they look ugly

they are too expensive.