Hybrid Owners Aren’t As Smug As They’re Painted

Very interesting, but of course unscientific*, poll of hybrid vehicle owners over at HybridCarBlog.  It turns out that very few hybrid owners bought their hybrid because of global warming fears:

So far, there have been more than 28,000 responses to the poll and the results are a little surprising. 37 percent of respondents picked foreign oil dependency, 29 percent cool technology, 27 percent car pool lane access, but only 7 percent picked global warming.

Certainly, everyone I know in Northern Virginia who bought a hybrid did so because of the (no longer available) HOV lane access, but I am a little surprised and gratified to see that over 50 percent of hybrid purchasers made their decision based on personal rather than political considerations.

More importantly, however, as the post author notes, this suggests that car companies are missing a huge marketing bonanza by concentrating so heavily on save-the-planet considerations in their advertising campaigns.  If we really want to see hybrid technology develop and become more affordable, the auto makers need to wise up to this.  Of course, with the major American automakers (apart from Ford) now substantially owned by politicians and their allies, the chances of this happening are slight.

*So take it with a grain of salt