By the moment you reading this it’s probably another new hybrid car are on the road. Hybrid cars are getting more and more popular in automobile market although it has only less than five percent out of all cars on the road today. If you understand how do hybrid cars work you will understand why the popularity of hybrid cars are growing. The main reason is it has high fuel efficiency and convenience to drive like any usual cars.

In 1898, the first hybrid car was built by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche in Germany. The car was using an internal combustion engine to spin a generator that generates electric power to an electric motor located in the wheel hub. In 1899, another 2 hybrid cars appear at the Paris Salon. There are many more hybrids were built after 1899 but it is not that famous because gasoline powered cars taken up most of the market share.

However, hybrid technology are improved every moment until 1999, one of the world’s leading automobile maker Honda released the first 2-door hybrid car to hit the mass market in U.S, the Honda Insight. The Insight won several awards and it has 61 mpg in city drive and 70 mph highway drive.

Here we use percentage to calculate the number of hybrid on the road. In 2007, it is 2% hybrid cars are on the road among all kind of cars. In 2008 and 2009, hybrid cars achieved 3% and the amount of hybrid cars on the road is expected to reach 10% by 2015.

Hybrid car sales statistic (2000-2010)

• In 2000, Toyota released Toyota Prius Hybrid.
• In 2002, Honda released Honda Civic Hybrid.
• In 2004, Ford released Ford Escape Hybrid.
• In 2006, Toyota has released Toyota Camry Hybrid. The total sales had hit 161,514 unit as of May 31, 2010.
• In 2009, Ford released Fusion Hybrid.
• In 2009, the total sales for Honda Insight in U.S market were 20,572 units, while Fusion Hybrid is 15,554 units, Civic Hybrid were 15,119, Camry Hybrid are 22,887 units, and Prius Hybrid are 139,682 who become the winner.
• In 2010, the total sales for Honda Insight in the U.S market from January to June are 10,257 units. (This list will be updated according to time)

In conclusion, hybrid cars are getting more fashionable because the gasoline price are keep on raising and people look for more fuel efficient cars. With all these reasons, you can see the hybrid cars will be increasing over the years until 2012, 2013, 2014 or even 2020.