Hybrid Cars, going nowhere fast

The Honda Accord hybrid is in showrooms, just not very many showrooms.

While the Toyota Prius has created great buzz and proof that Americans are willing to purchase alternative technology, the automotive industry appears completely unable to provide such technology in competitive numbers.

They say the Prius, and the Ford Escape hybrid - which uses Toyota's hybrid technology - have limited production capability due to lack of batteries.

Whatever the reason, supply for the Prius is far behind demand. The result: Paying your dealer and car salesmen even more, as much as $5000.00 more. This on top of the fact that you are already paying an additional $3000.00 in hybrid technology.

Prius design and performance actually justifies this cost. It is simply an awesome vehicle and worth every penny. The $3000.00 dealer add-on; however, is offensive, especially if I have to wait 6 months + before I can pick up my car.

The Escape, on the other hand, seems expensive. It's a great vehicle, don't get me wrong, but its hard to do the right thing when another, non-hybrid SUV, costs so much less. Its just hard to put that burden on the average American.

Godforbid, shareholders burden that cost. Shareholders, whom are much wealthier than the average American, appear completely oblivious to such issues.

Now, the newest hybrid car, the Accord hybrid, is hitting the market. More power, less gas is its marketing mantra. While this might be true, the car is still well over 30,000 by the time it hits the street.

The average American simply can't afford 30,000.

Thus, only the Civic hybrid and Toyota Prius are conceivable choices for most American car-buyers. The others appear simply as tokens.

Is this a stall tactic? By the whole industry? I realize that Toyota might not have been able to forecast such success with it's hybrid, but that success has been buzzing for some time now, yet supply problems are not improving.

The only thing that is clear. If supply for the Prius wasn't a problem, Toyota could easily move several hundred thousand cars per year, especially with no dealer add-on.

That smells like the path to profit to me. So, why isn't it happening?