The hybrid car may finally reach its destination on the long road to respectability in 2004, thanks in part to strong demand for the new Toyota Prius. The sales of fuel-efficient, gas-electric vehicles are expected to more than double next year, surpassing 100,000 worldwide, as Detroit finally hops on board. According to experts, achieving the six-figure milestone is an important early step in making hybrids available in showrooms everywhere. Hybrid cars offer increased fuel efficiency and greatly reduced emissions by using an electric motor that helps with acceleration while idling to complement an internal combustion engine. Hybrids use the energy from braking to recharge batteries, and so do not have to be plugged in like electric cars do. Hybrids have slowly rolled onto highways since Honda first introduced the Insight hybrid in 1999. Consumers have been reluctant to adopt hybrids because they are priced several thousand dollars higher than other cars in their class, and because the earliest models were very compact. According to market-analysis firm J.D. Power and Associates, approximately 40,000 hybrid vehicles will have been sold in 2003, about half coming from Honda's Insight and Civic, and the remaining sales from the Toyota Prius. Source: Wired