Word: gal
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...every time prices spike at the pump, whether because of turmoil in the Middle East, a lack of refinery capacity or old-fashioned opportunism in anticipation of a surge in demand. That's the scene now, with oil futures hitting record levels and gas prices averaging nearly $2 per gal. nationwide just as the summer driving season kicks off. If you just spent $75 to fill up your Chevy Suburban, you might even be one of those folks swearing they're gonna dump the hog for more of a fuel sipper...
Will hybrids go mainstream? Detroit economists are skeptical, arguing that it would take $4-per-gal. gas to significantly shift new-car buyers toward hybrids or other more fuel-efficient cars. The new hybrids will probably be priced a few thousand dollars above their conventional cousins; about $2,500 is typical now. (The Federal Government is offering a $1,500 tax deduction this year.) It's unclear whether consumers will want to spend the extra bucks if the fuel savings turn out to be minimal. But there's reason to believe that gas prices may not fall after the traditional...
...moment, $2-per-gal. gas has sent the sale of hybrids zooming like a roadster. April was Honda's best month for its hybrid Civic (3,341 sold), and that followed a record-setting March. Toyota has a 20,000-order backlog for its critically acclaimed Prius and predicts a 50% sales increase over last year, to 50,000 units. All told, hybrid sales are expected to more than double this year, to 100,000. That's a tiny fraction of the U.S. market for new-vehicle sales, forecast to be around 17 million this year. But it's still...
...will have to play catch-up. GM has for years been publicly dismissive of hybrid cars. In January, vice chairman Bob Lutz described hybrids as "an interesting curiosity" and said, "We will make some," but added that they didn't make much sense with gasoline at $1.50 per gal. Gas prices are up 30% since then, but GM officials insist their strategy has not changed. The focus is still on delivering hybrid versions of SUVs and pickups while devoting the bulk of GM's future-power-train research into a commercially viable hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicle, which the company says...
...have plenty of detractors. Critics point out that after paying the extra cash for one, say a $2,500 premium for a hybrid Civic, it will take about a decade to recoup that amount at the pump (at 15,000 miles a year and with gas at $2 per gal.). They claim that if fuel economy becomes an even more important consideration, there are already plenty of fuel-efficient cars and smaller SUVs that are less complex and easier to fix than hybrids...