The American market for hybrid vehicles could be slowing down, as motorists weigh up the cost of driving them as compared to a normal car.

Industry analysts claim that the environmentally-friendly market for hybrids may have already become saturated and that the current fad for the green cars in areas such as California will not sustain the technology long-term.

Industry experts told Business Week that the crucial market for hybrids is the people who buy the cars with the sole aim of making savings on petrol and through tax breaks granted to hybrid-drivers.

It is here that they say the hybrid frequently comes up short from the off, in that consumers can quite clearly see that it costs a lot more to buy a hybrid than it does a standard petrol-version of the same car – which is proving a significant obstacle.

Edmonds.com senior analyst, Jesse Toprak, explained: "People have been calculating their long-term savings after buying a hybrid, and it's becoming a very debatable point."

Whereas the Toyota Prius escapes this price comparison as it is only available in hybrid version, the Toyota Highlander costs around $9,000 more as a hybrid than as a standard version, while the Ford Escape costs around $3,500 more as a hybrid.

Other problems that have afflicted the industry so far have been a failure to adequately market hybrids, and a failure to communicate to dealers over how to sell these cars in the face of increasingly informed consumers.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd