The largest barrier to bringing hybrid cars to everyone is the price. When hybrid cars were first sold to the consumer, they came in limited supply and due to demand they all sold for thousands of dollars over sticker price. Currently, the availability of cheap hybrid cars and used hybrid cars exceeds demand and like non-hybrid cars the price has come down and consumers are able to shop around and make a choice based on features and options, instead of taking whatever is on the lot.

The cheaper hybrid cars are selling for around $20,000, which puts them slightly out of reach of the average first time buyer who is looking to spend around $15,000. While the hybrid will come in as more expensive, over time the amount of money saved on gas will balance out the additional cost over the years. The fact is that some car makers are focusing on bringing the cost of the hybrid down, instead of heavily investing in the new plug-in style, but the problem is the engineering costs and other requirements associated with running and maintaining a hybrid car production line. Prices are expected to steadily fall as new technology is introduced and hybrid vehicles become the mainstream production of many companies.

While plug-ins will be all the rage next year and have people paying exorbitant prices for every model that comes out of the factory, inexpensive hybrid cars will be on the rise as they are modeled towards a new demographic. Going green is something we all need to take into consideration, and the older generation of hybrid technology allows you to do that and still be economical. Some automakers, Honda in particular, are taking steps towards making their entire line of vehicles available in one hybrid form or another; they are betting big on picking up a lot of customers by providing low cost hybrid cars for people that are more concerned about their budget than the latest way to go green.

Ford’s original stance when it came to the hybrid vehicle was to aim at one thing Americans truly love: the SUV. One of their first models was a hybrid SUV; the company is still adding more hybrids to their production line. Although, their approach to selling their hybrids was much more conservative than the Japanese, they are starting to turn a profit, which will allow them to continue to expand their hybrid offerings and keep them competitive with foreign car companies.

General Motors chose to originally ignore the hybrid craze, because they didn’t feel it was a worthwhile investment at the time, but have since done a complete turnaround, because of the success of foreign hybrid cars. The first GM attempts were met with negative reactions due to such a mild introduction of hybrid technology. They vehicles only used an electric engine to help the gasoline engine and while they offered a small improvement to gas mileage, the increase in cost was not worth the benefit; they have since switched to developing competitive hybrid engines and have introduced them all across their production line. The biggest benefits come in the SUV and Truck department.

Chrysler never gave hybrids the consideration they were due and after spending a lot of money to develop a hybrid engine, they found there wasn’t enough interest to continue and had for the most part stayed out of the hybrid market, until recently. They have come forth with plans on developing hybrid vehicles, but nothing is concrete as plans continue to be canceled and re-opened.

Choosing to buy American made hybrid cars is a good way to combine the benefits of going green and the pride of the USA. While Toyota is currently dominating the hybrid market and will continue to do so for a few years, American companies are working hard to catch up and produce products that are better options to foreign choices. Whether you go with higher fuel efficiency or more power, you need to evaluate your requirements and go with the car that best suits your lifestyle.

I decided it was time to go with a hybrid that was easy on gas and I also felt good about driving. Until recently there has been a hole in the market for hybrid min-vans here in America. They have been available for some time in European and Japanese markets, but now this year there are some available. I narrowed down my choices to these vans. The Toyota sienna hybrid which is similar to the Toyota Estima Hybrid Minivan released in japan it has a 2.4 four cylinder that seems pretty peppy.

It also has a optional 4 wheel drive which is called E-four by Toyota and is automatically engaged when it senses slipping. I like the 4 wheel drive because the winters are icy where I live. To top it all off this van is reported to get around 40 MPG!! This is a very tempting car. The next hybrid van I looked at is the Honda Freed minivan. It is being released in may this year so I haven’t had the chance to actually drive it , but I’m very excited about it as I think Honda is a great company and there products are all ways of good quality. The Freed minivan is really cool looking I can just imagine my family in it. It is like one step closer to the future, it looks like a Jetsons car on wheels.

It will probably have a 1.5 liter engine that will put out 118- horses. That seems low , but when it is hooked up to the continuously variable transmission it should get you up the biggest hills no problem. Unfortunately right now in the U.S. there are not many options when looking for a hybrid van , but it seems that we will be getting some options soon. I think all of us can look forward to lower gas usage and the good feeling that we are part of the wave of environmentally friendly families across the land by switching over to hybrid vehicles.