Hybrid cars give owners a charge.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

Wendell "Wendy" Ray, the former Oregon sports and KUGN broadcaster, is cruising around Eugene these days in the hot-selling Toyota Prius.

There's nothing about the hip, four-door hybrid that Ray doesn't love.

"It's very easy to drive, it's very comfortable and it saves a lot of money," he said. "And it's environmentally sane."

Powered by a seamless combination of gasoline and electricity, the Toyota hybrid can travel 600 miles on a tank of gas while spitting out one-half to one-third of the pollution of a gas-only combustion engine.

And unlike all-electric cars, hybrids don't need to be plugged in. Energy reclaimed from the driving process, such as braking and coasting, charges the batteries.

At about $20,000, they cost several thousand dollars more than their traditional counterparts. But buyers also qualify for federal and state tax breaks that can lower the price by $3,000 or more.

Hybrids steadily are gaining in popularity in Lane County and across the country, appealing to buyers partly because of rising prices at the pump. Americans have bought more than 108,000 hybrids - mostly the Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid - in the past four years.

That's a tiny fraction of the 17 million new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. annually. But automakers are adapting the technology to a broader line of passenger cars and hope to roll out hybrid

SUVs within the next year.

Toyota plans to unveil a hybrid Lexus RX 330, its luxury SUV, next fall. And late next summer, Ford will start selling its first hybrid electric vehicle, the Escape SUV. The Saturn Vue SUV and the GMC Sierra, Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram pickup trucks also are slated for hybrid versions.

But for now, the Prius is the leading hybrid seller.

Ray and his wife, Joyce, both in their 70s, drove their 2001 Prius to Los Angeles and back - some 2,400 miles - on 46 gallons of gas.

They were so happy with the performance that they recently bought the 2004 model, which is bigger, faster and more efficient than its predecessors.

They especially like the car's super-low emissions, which cut down on urban pollution and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. The Prius, just named "Car of the Year" by Motor Trend magazine, runs exclusively off its electric motor when idling or at low speeds.

"It's just the right thing to do," Ray said.

Nearly 64,000 Priuses are on the road in the United States today, and the company sold 5,200 of the new models in November - a record sales month for the car.

The initial 2004 sales target was 36,000, but Toyota expects to announce a production increase next week, said Irv Miller, vice president of corporate communications.

"We had 10,000 sold orders on this vehicle before it went on sale," he said.

Nationally, the wait is about three months for one, he said. In Eugene-Springfield, the wait can last up to two months.

Many car buyers may be waiting for other reasons - to see how the new hybrids perform on government safety tests, or to gauge long-term maintenance costs and resale value.

It's also unclear how other emerging eco-friendly technologies, such as hydrogen fuel-cell cars, will affect the growing market for hybrids.

General Motors Corp., which showed off a fuel cell concept car this fall, has suggested that hybrids merely will provide a bridge to zero-emission fuel-cell vehicles.

The Bush administration earlier this year proposed $1.3 billion to promote hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

In the meantime, the Toyota and Honda hybrids have a corner on the market. Even wealthy Hollywood celebrities are driving them. Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz all are Prius owners.

Bill Berg, the Prius specialist at Lithia Toyota, said the hybrid is probably the hardest car to get right now among the Toyota lineup. "We just can't keep up with the demand," he said.

Kendall Toyota in Eugene sells a Prius every two to three days. "It's the hottest car we have currently," General Manager Davis Shears said. "We're selling every one we can acquire."

Buyers span the demographic spectrum, Shears said, from college students to couples with young children to retirees. What most have in common is they know what they want, he said.

"Primarily the people we've seen have done their research," he said. "They're very knowledgeable about the car and they want a Prius."

Honda was first on the scene in the U.S. hybrid market with the Insight, a two-seat model rated at 66 miles per gallon on the highway.

It's been overshadowed by the Civic Hybrid, a five-passenger model that closely resembles the regular Civic but gets 51 mpg.

"The Civic is such a mainstream car, until you get right on it, you don't know it's a hybrid," said Charlie Freeman, general manager at Kendall Honda in Eugene.

The dealership has sold 37 of the cars so far this year, up from 22 last year, Freeman said.

Gail Sights of Springfield bought one in October and uses it to ferry her daughter and grandson around the metro area. "It's got pick up and go. When you step on the gas, you go," Sights said. "They did a great job."

She's put more than 1,000 miles on the car and has pulled into a gas station just twice.

"I was going to buy an SUV," she said. "When I saw gas prices go up, I decided to go with this."

John and Nancy Hamilton of Junction City picked up their white 2004 Prius at Kendall Toyota this week - and immediately broke it in with a trip to Myrtle Creek, where their daughter coaches basketball.

Toyota redesigned the Prius for 2004. The new model travels an average of 55 mpg, accelerates from 0 to 60 in 10 seconds, sports keyless entry and ignition and seats five.

It was the Hamiltons' first new car since 1966, and they were practically giddy as they waited in the dealership lobby for the paperwork to be finished.

The quiet ride, fuel economy and spaciousness were key selling points, they said.

The couple, both 60 and retired teachers, also own a Dodge Caravan. But they wanted something easier to maneuver for in-state travel.

The Prius, Nancy Hamilton said, will be their primary car.

"The engineering is just superior," John Hamilton said.

CAPTION(S):

Joyce and Wendell Ray bought their first hybrid in 2001 for fuel savings and environmental reasons. They recently bought their second vehicle.