Hybrids Gain in Popularity in Hawaii

Hawaii is a tough place to own a car. They're more expensive (everything's imported) and gas is more expensive. Then there's the cost to remove the car at the end (exporting is just as expensive as importing). When I visited Hawaii a few years ago, the tour driver explained to us how people would abandon their cars on the side of the road, rather than pay to have it taken care of.

But with the price of gas, hybrid sales have increased dramatically through the first quarter. 371 new hybrid vehicles were registered in Hawaii during the first quarter of the year. That's an 8 percent increase from last year.

Through the first seven months of 2007, only the state of Hawaii showed a decline in registrations. Of course, with the trouble Hawaii goes through to import cars, it's hard to tell if hybrids really are popular in Hawaii.

Photo from flickr by hellochris.