Car Insurance

Japan’s gasoline-electric hybrid cars have now been available in the U.S. for nearly a year, and they are proving quite popular. According to Toyota, the waiting list for its Prius averages five to six months. The Honda Insight is available from most dealers with little or no waiting. Each of the cars has a high EPA city/highway mileage rate, with the Insight getting 61/68 to the Prius’s 45/52. Both models sell best in areas where there are high emission restrictions. California, for example, accounts for 36 percent of all Prius sales. Denver and Chicago are also hot markets.

Even members of Congress are fans of the hybrid car. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) owns a Prius, and he believes the car’s best feature is the environmental aspect. When at a stop, the Prius doesn’t bum energy. Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD) describes the Prius as a “green car with green technology.” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-MD) believes that such luxury cars as Cadillac and Lincoln will eventually embrace the hybrid technology. All three representatives chose the four-door Prius for its roomier interior and back seat; the Insight is a two-door, two passenger hatchback.

Reps. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), and Senator Barbara Boxer (D) have also snapped up the Prius, and there might be more Congressional buyers on the way. Baird says that since he has started driving his new car at least a dozen colleagues have asked about it.

Honda plans to begin selling hybrid cars for the first time in South Korea by introducing the Accord Hybrid sedan in the second or third quarter of 2006.

The move is expected to lead Korean carmakers, such as Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, to an earlier-than expected sale of hybrids. Hyundai is still a couple years away from marketing hybrid cars of its own.

“We will unveil the hybrid model in June. Motorists will meet the new cars by July or August,” a Honda Korea representative said.

Buyers of the gasoline-electric Accord Hybrid sedans will also enjoy scheduled tax credits as soon as the policies become effective.

Though Korea is considering offering a variety of incentives, such as tax break and discount of insurance policies to hybrid car owners, it will not be easy for carmakers to be successful in their sales of eco-friendly cars as long as prices are above those of gasoline cars. But, in the U.S. and Europe, anxiety over the prices resolved itself.

The prices of Honda and Toyota’s hybrid cars will range between $20,000 and $30,000 (20 million and 30 million won) in North America.

GM Daewoo Auto & Technology, South Korea’s third largest carmaker, is mulling the marketing of GM hybrid SUVs next year.