Pure selfishness. I bet many car manufacturers will continue luring these people with cars that are huge, have a lot of horsepower, and are under the "hybrid" label. (Never mind the fact the vehicle may get 22 MPG compared to the non-hybrid that received 20 MPG with less horsepower.)

And there will be a huge market of fools dumb enough to think they are consciously doing good for our planet by driving one.

And then go on TV and actually say that GM cares about fuel mileage by developing the first hybrid truck!

Sounds like what is being experienced with hybrids is the same thing that happened to the organic food movement. When manufacturers woke up and realized that there was a market for that "segment" they instantly began "modifying" the definition of "organic" to include the (inorganic) foods that they were producing. Without regulation, Twinkies would be labeled organic!
With hybrids, it will be the same thing - look at the Accord hybrid....

I really think the Honda blew it with the Accord Hybrid and Toyota blew it with the Lexus 400h and will perform the same stupid act when the Camry comes out next year. I won't even get started with GM and their alleged Silverado non-hybrid and the new soon to be released Saturn Vue hybrid. Look at this quote from a Gm engineer "Upping an SUV's performance from 10 mpg to 11 mpg will save 110 gallons of gas every 12,000 miles, points out GM engineer Tim Grewe. That's more than the 100 gallons saved by increasing a sedan's fuel economy from 30 to 40 mpg and driving it the same distance." They have all had crainial rectal inversion surgery. They think everyone is stupid and is willing to buy their garbage.
I thought that the whole idea for the Hybird was to polute less and get better gas milage. So far the only two reasonable cars on the market are the Honda Civic and the Prius.
If the American population would stop buying into we can drive what we want when we want and the enviroment be damned, maybe we will start moving in the correct direction.

And it's going to work....people will buy "hybrid" without looking at what they are really getting....I am so p*ssed at ALL the automakers who seem to be wanting to use this synergy drive to increase performance and horsepower. As if we need our cars to go faster...I don't see the majority of these "hefty" vehicles pulling loads.

We are going nowhere, but we are getting there faster.

MAYBE the prius will change this, because we talk about MPG first , rather than, "hey Bill, nice car".."Yeah Chuck..it's got a V6 with 230 Horses under the hood".