Just how big is the "hybrid premium?" It differs for every vehicle and hopefully it will soon be a thing of the past. However, asking even upper-middle class consumers in India to pay $5,000 extra for a hybrid is just not realistic. In the United States it's a very different story, but the economic benefits of driving a hybrid still vary a lot from model to model.
As for "the adolescent fixation with being cool," I think you may underestimate just how much that plays into the equation for a lot of hybrid drivers as well—they and their friends just have a different standard for cool than people who drive Escalades. In the long run, I think decreasing the amount of oil that we use will come more from society accepting fuel efficient cars as the "new cool" than from altering deep-seeded sociological values. (Not that we have time to sit around and wait until that happens on its own, but I don't think that cool is going away anytime soon.)
from ; Junior member
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