How widely are hybrid cars used? Also, which countries produce them?

Question

It's for a science project. I had to change topics to Hyprid cars. I need to know how widely they are used, which companies produce them, and which countries use them...

Please, it's really important!!

Also, refernces appriciated.

Answer 1

Yahoo Autos has a "Green cars" section that lists the hybrids available in 2007 models

http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center-fuel_hybrid_cars-cars/

There were 205,749 hybrids sold in America in 2005 and over 116,000 sold in the first half of 2006. This website also has a list of the top-10 selling hybrids.

http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/list/top10/116743/article.html

In Europe small cars and diesels are more popular than hybrids, but hybrids are gaining in popularity.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/03/hybrid_electric.html

The Camry hybrid was car of the year in Canada:

http://news.techwhack.com/5323/toyota-camry-hybrid-2/

Toyota's worldwide hybrid sales topped 700,000:

http://www.hybridcar.com/news/in-the-news/toyota-global-sales-2006.html

Basically there are hybrids all over the place. Good luck with your science project.

Answer 2

Right now Japan and the US are the biggest users of hybrids.

In Europe they have diesel cars which are actually more efficient than Hybrids, and much more affordable. So they are not so popular there.

GM is planning on making a TON of hybrids. They have a light hybrids system out now that's used in 3 cars (Saturn Aura, Saturn Vue, 2008 Chevrolet Malibu).

They have a Rear Wheel Drive "2 mode" that will be out later this year. That system will be in large vehicles such as the GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Silverado, Chevrolet Tahoe, and Cadillac Escalade.

They are making a plug in hybrid system that could be used on almost half of their vehicles. No on knows which ones will get it though.

They are also designing a 2 mode front wheel drive, which would be similar to what Toyota is using now.

And their biggest project in an Electric vehicle that plugs in, but also has a gas engine that acts as a generator when your power is used up.

Answer 3

Here's a thought-my sister went out and bought a new GM truck. She had a really nice truck she traded in but since she has trouble walking, reliability is a real issue. So she bought a truck with the engine that cuts from 8 cylinders to 4 at the appropriate moment. The sticker on her car said she would get much better mileage and that was what she wanted. She's up to 13 mpg-much less than her other truck got. The dealership assures her it will get better as the engine breaks in. It has; it's up from 12 mpg. What a crock!

Answer 4

Gas prices are what killed the muscle car craze in the 1960s. We are experiencing it again with the gas prices nowadays - Toyota has to be the word leader on this, closely followed by Honda, Ford, and now even GMC. Saturn in the early 90s started the renewable sources car - they had TV commercials with people bouncing up and down their bumpers and doors screaming "polymer polymer polymer". In Texas where most people drive big trucks that take up two lanes and you need a ladder to get in them, you're beginning to see more and more hybrids on the road - particularly during rush hour traffic when people are heading to work.

Answer 5

Cost and limited availability has kept hybrid car use down.

Its hard for the average person to justify paying a $12,000 premium to get a car that gets 15% better gas mileage. Takes a LONG time for that to pay off even at $3.50 a gallon.

Honda, Ford, GM and Toyota are the best known makers of Hybrids sold in the US.

Answer 6

I drive a Honda Civic and on a good day it gets 40 mpg. That is better than most of the hybrid cars so what is the point.

Answer 7

There are two types of hybrid cars.

1) Electricity + Oil cars. Their source is only oil. Japanese manufacturers such asToyota and Honda are worlwide.

2) Alternative fuels (ethanol, hydrogen, etc.) + oil (or sometimes without oil). BMW, Volvo, Saab. Mostly in Europe and Brasil

There are other car manufacturers operating locally in most countries or regions worldwide.

Answer 8

Hybrid cars are oust becoming widely used, mainly in developed countries like the US, UK, EU CANADA. Its a very
good way to save fuel and reduce emissions. I would say that
most of your G-8 countries with the exclusion of maybe two.
They probably compose two percent of vehicles driven because of price. The new alternative in most G8 countries
is now mpg gas cap and liquid base pat formula . It over forty years tested just release FM US govt now being offered on a world wide scale,via the Internet . for more go to www. asavingsongas.myffi.biz again www.asavingsongas.myffi.biz. i use it it works and it reduces emission, state of Georgia requires emission test, it works.

Answer 9

Nonda and Toyota are the world leaders. GM and Ford afilitates (saturn mercury, etc) and many smaller companies make cars too. You might want to go to the mfgrs website, I'm sure they'll be bragging about how much energy they save and how many tons of pollution are not introduced to the environment

Answer 10

Hybrid car producers include: Toyota, Honda, Mercury, Saturn.