Despite the five-month waiting list for Toyota Priuses in the U.S., Toyota has no plans to boost production numbers for its four-door gas-electric hybrid, which gets between 45 and 52 miles per gallon of gasoline. Toyota and Honda (its two-door Insight rates between 61 and 68 mpg) are planning to build fewer than 20,000 hybrid cars for sale this year in the U.S., where 17 million vehicles were sold last year. Although hybrid cars won’t be competing with SUV sales anytime soon, some celebrities and politicians have flocked to them (Leonardo DiCaprio has two!). General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler say they will begin selling hybrid SUVs in 2003. Meanwhile, the world’s first sports car running on rotting vegetables — 220 pounds of the stuff powers the car for 62 miles — is on tour at motor shows around the world.
