This might change so quicly in this world :)

We will still have a choice - there's a good many things hybrids will never do - hauling heavy loads for instance, not just HGVs but vans, pickups and those towing trailers/caravans.

Now when fuel cell technology starts to become affordable, that's a different matter.

Apart from all those diesel electric trains... ;-P

So we're all being edged slowly to hybrid cars or pure electric cars.

But on the other side, airports are being expanded all over the places, and there are no plans for electric planes as far as I can see (how would that even work!), so the green penalties are enforced more and more against motorists!

I'm all for more efficient use of our fuels, but the hypocrisy is staggering, especially from the likes of the greenpeace lunatics who protest at oil being drilled for in the oceans, yet turn up to those protests in great big diesel devouring ships, presumably because they're better than us and allowed to use fossil fuels.

My understanding is that the move away from diesel particularly in Europe was driven by EU legislation and especially Euro VI which will require very complex NOx emission reduction which adds significantly to vehicle cost. Also the likes of Toyota have a head start in meeting the very strict emissions (CO2) targets by using hybrid, don't forget that all manufacturers are obliged to reduce their overall CO2 emissions as part of EC law or face huge penalties. Probably why BMW is moving into hybrid territory and cheaper to licence it in from the experts than re-invent the wheel. Also why we see many small engine 3 cylinder turbos, which perform well during the emission test cycle (but less well in reality)

When you think that only 15 years ago, hybrids were a minority interest, they are now becoming mainstream with applications such as Auris and Yaris hybrid offering genuine economy at reasonable cost - although still a bit high for me! A medium size petrol car averaging around 60mpg has to be worth considering though, whether you're "green" or not, simply on running cost and reliability, being well proven, is not a problem. There is a resistance to change, particularly from petrol head journos who like to hear the aural soundtrack of conventional power, as the CVT noise is a boring drone by comparison.But I think we have to accept we'll all be driving them in 15 years. By then genuine EV power will probably have developed to offer proper range.

I think Honda and especially Toyota having launched models before other say less reliable manufacturers, helps the credibility of hybrids.

If the first models on the UK market had been riddled with problems ( and we all can think of manufacturers to whom this might have applied), the technlogy may have fallen at the first fence.

Hybrids having the highest retained value doesn't surprise me, although there is a possibility of some potential expensive failures with these cars, they seem fairly bulletproof.