2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid: 21/22 – City/Highway MPG
As the price of gas approaches 4 dollars a gallon, and in some places inevitably surpass the 4-dollar mark, consumers deal with the frustration by turning to hybrids to ease the pain at the pump. According to a recent article by Yahoo News, sales for hybrids have gone up 38 percent in 2007 despite an overall decrease in car sales for the year.
Future sales of hybrid are most certain to increase based on two key factors – unstable gas prices and the increasing variety of attractive, reasonably priced new models produced by companies. As of late Toyota, Chevy, Saturn, Honda, Nissan, Ford, Mercury, GMC, Mazda and Lexus have hybrid models available on the market today. The Toyota Prius is in the lead in sales and this is probably due to its high fuel efficiency. According to www.fueleconomy.gov, Toyota yields 48 and 45 miles per gallon in city and highway driving respectively. In addition to gas savings, there are other incentives for purchasing a hybrid vehicle: for one the consumer is allotted tax breaks with limitations however (see www.fueleconomy.gov//feg/tax_hybrid.shtml ). Secondly, various resale models have HOV (high-occupancy vehicles or carpool lane) stickers which are no longer distributed to new hybrids. To a lesser extent some hotels offer free hybrid parking while insurance companies give discounts to their clientele who own hybrids.
Ultimately, Pump N Go sees hybrids as a temporary, partial solution to fuel costs. Eventually the popularity of hybrids could lose steam as oil prices continue to rise and other alternative fuel vehicles that are not dependent on gas is introduced. In the long run, our goal is to convert dependence on oil to independence from oil.
