At the risk of exercising poor taste let me ask a rhetorical question: Why are the hybrid cars from Toyota and Honda like the atomic bomb attack on Japan? Because the fuel sipping gasoline/electric hybrid cars and the massive destruction upon the civilian population of two cities serve as convenient excuses to ignore the accepted practice of the old wasteful ways and to accept radically different, yet intrinsically more sensible methodology. I know it is huge stretch of the imagination to see how some cars sold in America can be compared to the surrender of Japan, but I ask for your indulgence as I make my case.
The fighting in Europe had stopped by the summer of 1945 , but the war against Japan was still dragging on. The Imperial Japanese military forces had once commanded most of the Western Pacific, but by the middle of 1945 Japan's forces had retreated to the home islands. Surrender was not a culturally acceptable notion to the Japanese fighting forces, they were prepared to defend the Homeland to the last man. It was predicted that Allied Forces would suffer casualties in excess of a million men trying to seize the Home Islands. If the Japanese abided by their cultural notion of defending without possibility of surrender, Japanese civilian and military losses could be as much as ten times greater as the Allied losses. Right or wrong, the decision was made to drop two atomic bombs on largely civilian populations.
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the convenient excuse for the Emperor of Japan break the culturally accepted practice to wastefully fight to the last man. The concept of surrender was radical; generations of Japanese were raised to regard anything less that total effort to the end as shameful. But the very real possibility that the lives of so many citizens of Japan would be wasted in a losing effort was real enough for the Emperor of Japan to act in a previously unthinkable manner.
In America we have enjoyed the luxury of vast quantities of inexpensive fossil fuels. And as such, the worldwide image of the American Car is a giant gas guzzling road monster. Nothing is more typical of America than a freeway jammed with these Goliath's carrying a single occupant. And suburban America is defined by a petite mother ferrying her tiny children to soccer practice in an SUV designed to ford streams while towing a howitzer. We Americans love our cars big, the bigger the better. Nothing shouts success to another American like owning a car large enough to launch and retrieve helicopters from the trunk lid.
Just as the Japanese were willing to fight to the last man regardless of the consequence, Americans were more concerned about the appearance of wealth to drive cars that are less than Earth Crushers. But just as the use of the atomic bomb gave the Japanese an excuse to ignore decades of conditioning to embrace a more rational and practical way to end the war, the hybrid cars from Toyota and Honda have given Americans a culturally acceptable excuse to abandon their giant cars for the small but efficient sedans.
The hybrid cars most commonly available at this time are compact four door sedans. Outwardly they are no different that the common Civics and Corollas that are sold as inexpensive, "entry level" vehicles to lower and middle class consumers. A trendy fashionista or an upwardly professional would never previously considered such a plain and mundane vehicle. Even though there is no rational reason for someone to drive 4,000 lbs. of Yank Tank while he makes his solo commute, until recently the typical car of choice for Americans is a car vastly overqualified for its primary usage.
Until. Until Americans were given a new compelling reason to drive a more rationally sized vehicle. The novelty factor of owning that mundane four door sedan that sports a tiny badge that identifies it as a hybrid is enough to get the Soccer Mom out of her Mini-Van, the Cowboy out of his Pick-up and the Lawyer out of his Lexus. Americans who previously could never consider driving a rational sized car are now clamoring to get into a car that was previously beneath their perceived station in life. In essence, just as the Japanese were given the excuse to surrender (a previously unimaginable option) with the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, Americans are given a socially acceptable reason to drive a compact car that they may never have previously considered.
All it takes is a compelling reason to buck the accepted cultural behavior.