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Apples to oranges. In the same drive cycle where Aerohead's truck is getting 40mpg, an Insight is getting 90+. Not that I disagree with the point that the market is ripe for this now.
Plenty of mild hybrids made their way into GM products over the years and failed to make a splash, because the improvements were so small. 0mpg highway and 2mpg city in the EPA test? Back in the late 90's, gasoline was $1 per gallon. There was hardly the same incentive, it was more of a publicity stunt. One that I drove for a decade, mind you.
In New Zealand, it's possible to pull up to a traffic light with a dozen stopped vehicles, and for there to be a dozen hybrids. Fuel is approximately twice as expensive and it's reflected in what's imported here. Turns out there are, in fact, hybrid versions of a lot of vehicles which simply aren't sold in the States.
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