Forbes has an excellent article from the New York Auto Show regarding the demand for hybrids (mentions the Prius waiting lines, gas prices -- nothing really new, but a good summary.) However, at the tail end when talking about upcoming hybrids, they add: OK, the Highlander Hybrid is one. What's the second? DUH! Sorry, I forgot -- the Lexus.
I would like to have visited the show again this year, but busy this time around. Last year was cool, got lots of pictures of the 04, most of them turned out OK. I wish I had taken more pics of the Monster Garage cars when I was there though.
Ford may now be on track to meet its announcement committments. I have inside information that much of the management team on the Escape was fired a few months ago for failing to produce results. They were apparently trying engineer a better system than Toyota by hiding any evidence that the vehicle was a hybrid. One of the issues was the cooling vent for the batteries - they were overheating the batteries as a result of hiding or eliminating the vent.
