ALT-10 Are Hybrid Cars Cool or Uncool – Cool
The question of whether Hybrid cars are "cool" or not is almost nonsensical. Is it "cool" to decrease the level of pollution in our atmosphere? Is it "cool" to conserve fuel? Only a malcontent would say no to either of these questions.
Now, I realize that the question of coolness probably has more to do with the exterior styling or the perception of one's friends. But, as Hybrid technology is used on ever different body styles, the stigma of the strange looking car with the ecology stickers all over it is all but gone. Nowadays everything from SUV's to the legendary Honda Accord can be bought in a Hybrid configuration. So you can hide behind a conventional body style, if you take the time out to remove any insignia that identifies your cars fuel source.
Besides, isn't coolness really being different enough to do what you, yourself, think is right? On the T.V. show Happy Days, the iconic character known as The Fonz was as different as can be. Yet he was considered to be the epitome of "cool". One imagines him converting his beloved motorcycle over to E85 ethanol and cleaning up at the drag strip. Those episodes just wrote themselves, and now I know why.
Keeping with the theme of celebrities, look at how many actors have jumped on the Hybrid bandwagon. I'm fairly certain that some larger companies pay these people and provide them with Hybrid vehicles, knowing full well that having someone who's photo is sought after is good for publicity. Not a bad marketing ploy, in my opinion. Case in point, T.V. star Jay Leno, who is known to almost everyone in the free world has recently taken possession of a Corvette that makes over 600 horsepower and runs on E85. You just know that he'll be talking it up on the Tonight Show. I read that the same car will be making HotRod Magazine's Power Tour, along with a handful of other GM cars that run on E85.
Unless your a teenager and still predisposed to worrying about what other people think, the desire to save fuel and lower the level of pollution that you, personally, contribute to the world should be a stronger incentive to owning one of these cars then anything else. And, truthfully, if you're even considering the purchase of a hybrid vehicle then you're more then halfway there.
