# A novel way to market hybrid cars.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 6, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609 "2006-04-06T18:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/41 "2006-04-08T18:03:07Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Well, like most technology, it’ll be pretty tough to contain by national borders. Unless the US (the west?) uses a particularly nasty type of protectionism, the alternative fuel technology will spread and I see very little reason China (or India, or anybody else) would not want to take advantage of it. > > So “FECK OPUC” may very well be the ultimate result. Which is unlikely to solve the fundamentalist Islam terrorist issue. In fact, it may lead to an even larger disenfranchised Arab population because their oil economy will have tanked and cause an increase in poverty among these oil producing nations. If you can come up with an alternative to oil that is cheaper to produce, you don’t need ad campaigns or legislation to sell it. The world will convert to it rapidly. THat’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about driving vehicles that still consume oil, just less of it. And the other alternatives, such as biodiesel and electric power, are only feasible BECAUSE oil is expensive. If the price of oil drops due to conservation, it could have the effect of pushing these alternatives right out of the market, which again gives OPEC even more power. Oil economics is a painful thing to contemplate, because there are no easy solutions. Oil is a worldwide, fungible resource that we need to run our economies. Conservation won’t stop that, although it’s a good thing to do for other reasons. In the end, what is going to break the back of OPEC is one of two things: 1) Oil will continue to increase in price until we get to the point where it’s simply too expensive to use as fuel, and alternatives will displace it, or 2) We come up with a cheaper alternative. Along the way to the most likely result, #1, there will be intermediate periods in which some alternatives become viable, and take the pressure off the oil market, causing the increase in price to flatten out or slow. Then as it rises more, more alternatives will come along. So the market share oil has in the energy markets will slowly decrease. It won’t vanish overnight. If #2 happens, it’ll be much more of a shock to the middle east. The sudden appearance of a cheap alternative to oil would cause a lot of economic shocks, but would ultimately be a good thing. What it would do to the Arab world is an open question. Some have argued that the existence of oil in the middle east is the root of all their problems - they’ve had no need to develop modern economies and political systems because they can live off oil. On the other hand, maybe without oil revenue the miiddle east would wind up looking like Africa. Who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/42 "2006-04-08T23:05:11Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > The problem wth the ‘screw OPEC’ angle is that it isn’t accurate. Drinking a particular beverage doesn’t cause a bevy of scantily clad hotties to parachute into your backyard, either, but that doesn’t stop the admen from offering it or viewers from eating it up. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/43 "2006-04-08T23:57:46Z")
Yeah, but I thought we were fighting ignorance around here. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/44 "2006-04-09T02:34:10Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Yeah, but I thought we were fighting ignorance around here. True, True, well barely true, this is MPSIMS, but true. But in this thread we are just trying to find a better way to sell a better product. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/45 "2006-04-09T16:29:36Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Yeah, but I thought we were fighting ignorance around here. True, but I don’t think that’s how people were thinking about it. “Would this ad campaign be _effective_” is a very different question compared to “would this ad campaign be _accurate._” If the members of the SDMB tried to deconstruct and evaluate every claim floating around out there in the advertising ether we wouldn’t get anything else done. ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/46 "2006-04-10T02:18:36Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > IRC: also lower Emissions. > There is a small Honda that gets very high mileage. 2006 Honda Insight Compact Coupe gets 57/56mpg. > > Jim Not to burst your bubble I owned a Honda Insight, bought it new in 2000. A monkey screwing a football could get that kind of milage from an insight. Hell in the 6 years I owned my Insight I averaged 55-58 in the city and 72 to 78 mph on the highway. The hybrid system honda uses (or used in the 2000 Insight I owned) got much better MPG on the interstate than the city… Toyota hybrid Technology is designed for city driving and higher MPG in city than on the interstate. Loved the Honda Insight for long drives, but a Toyota hybrid is more practical for city driving. Osip ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/47 "2006-04-10T02:28:16Z")
> [@Osip](#): > > Not to burst your bubble I owned a Honda Insight, bought it new in 2000. A monkey screwing a football could get that kind of milage from an insight. Hell in the 6 years I owned my Insight I averaged 55-58 in the city and 72 to 78 mph on the highway. The hybrid system honda uses (or used in the 2000 Insight I owned) got much better MPG on the interstate than the city… Toyota hybrid Technology is designed for city driving and higher MPG in city than on the interstate. > > Loved the Honda Insight for long drives, but a Toyota hybrid is more practical for city driving. > > Osip Sounds good and that is great, I grabbed the numbers from Edmunds. I would love to get 70+ mpg in a car that cost under 20k. I commute 40 miles each way highway everyday. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609/48 "2006-04-10T12:13:02Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Sounds good and that is great, I grabbed the numbers from Edmunds. > I would love to get 70+ mpg in a car that cost under 20k. I commute 40 miles each way highway everyday. > > Jim No kidding, I have a work van I bring home so I never comute. the only way to get 55/57 in an insight is to not drive it properly. I have yet to know anyone who has gotten poor interstate milage as Edmunds quoted. _shrug_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-novel-way-to-market-hybrid-cars/351609.md?page=2)