Are hybrid owners affluent?

According to the Boston Globe, hybrid owners are coming from the more affluent neighborhoods. Anecdotally, they tend to be more informed and pay in cash for their new car. Quite often, they know more about the tax credits available to them this year than the dealers do.

Boston Globe story

Hybrid cars have been selling in the United States since 1999, but their popularity has spiked in recent years and in certain communities. In Massachusetts, it's the affluent suburbs northwest of Boston -- Lincoln, Concord, Carlisle, and Harvard -- where hybrid fever runs strongest.

According to a Boston Globe study of all registered vehicles in the state, those communities, along with Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard, have the state's highest concentrations of people who own the iconic hybrid, the Prius. The highest rate of ownership was in Harvard, where 46 of the 3,847 registered vehicles, or 1.2 percent, were Priuses. That compares to six of the 25,950 cars in Lawrence.

And while the Ford Escape Hybrid has reported a slowdown in sales, the Prius still has customers on waiting lists, with 20 in Woburn and 70 in Lexington. Recently Ford has had to up the rebate to $1000 with no one the waiting list for its hybrid SUV.