Virtually all of the Presidential candidates, Dems and Republicans alike, are talking about incetives for Hybrid cars. It's usually either in their "energy independence" or their "solve climate change" plans.

And if gas becomes more expensive, which is probably likely over time, people will push their congressmen and State representatives for more hybrid tax credits.

Although the federal credit for Toyota's hybrids are currently expired, my own purchase is a great example of how much credits can help. For my '06 Prius, I got a $3,150 federal credit and a $3,285 State Tax Credit (Colorado). That's $6,435 off MSRP. Including $2,200 in options, I only paid about $18,000 for a good quality mid sized car (that happens to get 45-50 MPG) with decent features and options. That's more than most of the discrepancies noted above by Paul.

Currenly of course, you can get federal credits for the Ford and GM hybrids, and other car manufacturers as they begin to produce hybrids. More and more States will probably join Colorado and Oregon in establishing hybrid tax credits as well.

If you take those tax credits and add in the cost efficiencies of mass production (not to mention technical advances) and the cost of purchase should drop to being on par with non-hybrid cars within a few years (heck, my Prius was $18,000 brand new, show me where I could have bought a comparable mid size car for much less). My only worry is that demand will rocket so fast that the car companies will jack up the prices to cash in on the high demand, just as they really begin to make an impact on climate change pollution and energy independence.