Damn straight hooray for Honda.

And many millions more people cannot afford to buy hybrids.

Exactly 0.5% of the sales in 2004 were hybrids. In 2008? Final figures aren't in, but we do know that the minute gas prices drop, so do hybrid sales, as happened in 06/07. Hybrids were 2.5% of the market in 2007, a whopping 2% growth in three years.

You can read about it below, from the consumeraffairs.com website:

In California, the country's largest hybrid market, changing consumer attitudes toward hybrids are influenced by more than just gasoline prices and tax credits. Uncertainty in California over the availability of HOV lane stickers for new hybrids is an additional factor slowing sales for the Prius as well as other hybrids.

The federal tax credit available to buyers of the Prius was cut in half late in 2006. Until then, the Prius enjoyed the largest hybrid credit, $3,150. The credit shrank to $1,575 on October 1.

Despite dropping sales, prices for the Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid have remained virtually unchanged. The average price paid for a Prius, less any cash rebates, was $26,281 in November compared with $26,076 in August.