To those who responded to my analysis of the cost of a hybrid vs. a mid trim-level vehicle - I wrote a lengthy reply, then this stupid forum lost it when I posted telling me "wrong security code".

To sum up, my analysis was a response to the articles focus of "Stop waiting and buy a hybrid today". So tax credits you can't get any more or future mass production cost reduction just isn't something to consider for today (and I wouldn't suggest, for reliability reasons, that anyone I know buy the non Toyota and Honda hybrids that are available today).

It's certainly true that a hybrid comes with options that the mid trim level version doesn't. But my point is that for people who's primary goal is saving money (which is most of the people I know when it comes to spending tens of thousands of dollars) a hybrid car is today still significantly more expensive than the non hybrid version. One way that they could change this is by offering hybrid components on the mid trim level version of their cars.