> You would think - but I believe it was Freakonomics that did a story wherein they discovered that a large part of the Prius' success over other hybrids was du

> You would think - but I believe it was Freakonomics that did a story wherein they discovered that a large part of the Prius' success over other hybrids was due to its unique and recognizable styling. That "success over other hybrids" is local. Specifically, the freaonomics folks found that the market share of hybrids that don't look different is pretty much constant across the US. The prius, which is distinctive, doesn't sell like that. Its market share seems to vary with the dominant political party - it's very popular in Dem regions and just average in Repub regions.