Boston Globe
Here come the hybrids, subcompacts

Hybrid technology was developed in the 1990s in Asia, where gasoline sells for about $4 per gallon. And more than half the cars sold in Europe, where gasoline tops $5 per gallon, are diesels. So when prices in the United States started to skyrocket last fall, foreign automakers were well-positioned to introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles, just as they did during the oil crisis of the 1970s. And domestic companies, once again, are playing catch-up.

‘’It’s serendipity, like in the ’70s,” Toyota spokesman Wade Hoyt said of the recent launch of Toyota’s new subcompact, the Yaris. ‘’Nobody knew when it was being developed it would hit the market just as gasoline hit $3 per gallon.”

Across the United States, registrations for new hybrid vehicles rose 139 percent, from 83,204 in 2004 to 199,148 last year, according to R. L. Polk & Co., the automotive analysis and marketing firm. Another Polk study indicated that from 2000 to 2005, light-duty diesel registrations (excluding pickup trucks and large SUVs) rose from 22,543 to 44,031, and that there are about 179,000 light diesels on the road.

Manufacturers of the new subcompacts expect to sell at least 30,000 of each model annually. But American car companies are not well positioned to leap into the market, said Erich Merkle, director of forecasting for automotive consultants IRN Inc

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