In the year 2008, hybrid cars came of age. In America for the first time in 16 years, a car was the top seller, not a truck. But that is not all that the year 2008 will be remembered for. The roller coaster ride for consumers and investors that came from wide fluctuations in the price of oil and Wall Street instability left us all wondering what was next.  The biggest surprise of all was “Green Car of the Year” was awarded to a V-8 full size hybrid SUV with a combined fuel mileage of 20 mpg

A milestone was also achieved by Toyota last year. The announcement came on May 15, 2008 that more than 1,000,000 Prius have been sold worldwide. With the U.S. Congress approving an increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency to 35 mpg by the year 2020 with a benchmark of 31.5 mpg to be achieved by 2015 the Big Three must respond soon.

GM introduced 6 new models to their hybrid fleet. All but one was a full size vehicle. Chrysler also made 2 new hybrid models, but just like GM, they were full size hybrid models. From the Japanese manufacturer Honda, the announcement came that the all-new Insight will be reintroduced into the American market to compete with the Toyota Prius.

Looking back on the year, one could see a pattern. The American consumer purchased small fuel-efficient vehicles from Japan. The U.S. Government is mandating better fuel efficiency for the future of the automobile industry in America. Investors and consumers are worried about the instability and weakening of the U.S. economy. The Big three from Detroit still think the American consumer wants a big vehicle.

There was a bright sign that the boys from Detroit have finally received the message. Unlike the previous trip in corporate jets that were used as transport to capital hill, this time the CEO’s arrived in hybrid vehicles with their hands out to ask for more bail out money from the U.S. taxpayer. I think they finally understand that the 2008 hybrid cars are the turning point and this trend should continue.

Tags: 2008 Hybrid Cars, Green Car of the Year, hybrid cars, Toyota Prius

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 8:15 pm and is filed under green car. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.