This article is completely wrong. In the early days, anything less than a serious hypermiling hybrid was absolutely murdered in the press and popular culture.

This article is completely wrong. In the early days, anything less than a serious hypermiling hybrid was absolutely murdered in the press and popular culture. We've ended up with a second socially-accepted hybrid category, which is to use the hybrid for insane power and/or speed. Anywhere in the middle is just not publicly acceptable, even though they make financial and environmental sense. From 2005-2010, GM sold all their full-size trucks and SUVs with a mild hybrid option that had an outstanding ROI. But the press hated them with a passion, so the next version of those vehicle dropped the hybrid option. Nearly 100% of the vehicles Audi currently sells in the US are mild hybrids. But there is no badge on the car, the Monroney sticker and the Audi website do not use the word 'hybrid', etc. That's the world we live in.