Hybrid cars currently available in UK run on a combination of
gasoline and on board installed batteries. These batteries run on
Nickel-metal-hydride as against the traditional batteries which run on
a Lead-acid combination. Hybrid cars have lately started catching up in
UK's automobile market too. This has been due to the combined effort of
environmentalists and the federal government who have been pushing hard
to convince people to buy these hybrid cars.
Several models of hybrid cars have hit the roads since 1997, ever since
the launch of much appreciated Toyota Prius Hybrid. However, not many
cars have managed to get the kind of response that Toyota's Prius have
received. Toyota claims to have sold more than a million Prius hybrids
since 1997 and says that the sales are still as strong as ever. In fact
UK's transport department goes on the record to claim that Prius is the
6th least polluting car plying in UK and available commercially.
Several hybrid cars are currently available in UK but not many of them
have proven to be a commercial success since an average buyer is rarely
ever able to afford the cars. This is due to the fact that the most of
the hybrid cars often prove more expensive to run in the longer run as
compared to their conventional fuel run counterparts. Most of the
hybrid models are priced at least 25% higher as compared to similar
models available in the market running on gasoline or diesel.
However, hybrid cars have seen increasing popularity in UK in the last
few years due to celebrity endorsements. Many celebrities, actors and
actresses, pop stars, sports icons have been actively promoting these
environment friendly cars in a big way in UK. Even the government is
doing its bit to encourage buyers to buy more and more of hybrid cars
as against cars that run purely on gasoline. UK's transport department
has also decided, in a bid to increase the popularity of hybrid cars,
to waive the London Congestion Charge for all hybrid cars. For an
average office going person who uses his or her car on a daily basis,
this could mean a savings of as much as 2000 per year.
Some of the most popular hybrid cars in UK as of May 2009 are Toyota
Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and a couple of models from Lexus. Several
other cars are scheduled to be launched in a short period of time like
Nissan Altima, Toyota Corolla Hybrid and others from the stable of
American car manufacturers like Ford and General Motors.

No Comments.
Discuss this item on the forums. (0 posts)