Hybrid cars drawing drivers

Friday, March 28, 2003 | 9:19 a.m.

As gas prices in the Las Vegas Valley hover above $2 a gallon and coalition forces struggle to protect oil wells in Iraq, many local residents are thinking of buying the so-called hybrid cars made by Honda, Toyota and other companies.

"It's amazing how many calls we're getting on this," said Robey Taute of the business office at Desert Toyota, 6300 W. Sahara Ave.

"We're doing much better in recent weeks, since the gas prices are going up."

Area dealers said their sales of the cars -- which run on a combination of gas and electric power and get between 47 and 60 miles a gallon -- have increased from two to five times the normal rate. This despite their cost, which is upwards of $20,000.

Customers cite reasons for the switch to hybrid cars ranging from avoiding rising gas prices to helping change global politics.

"Our model doesn't drive any differently from a normal Civic," said Steve Briese, new car manager at Desert Honda, 1710 E. Sahara Ave.

"But people say they definitely feel it when they reach for their wallets."

Allen Lee, general manager of Shack Findlay Honda at Henderson's Valley Auto Mall, said some people are moved by politics as well.

"You get the person who says he doesn't want us to depend on oil from foreign countries," he said.

And though his sales have gone from about five hybrid cars a month to a dozen in the last month, Lee said that four or five times as many pamphlets on the cars are disappearing from the dealer every day.

At area gas pumps Thursday, finding some way to use less fuel was definitely on people's minds.

"I think we definitely need to find an alternative," said Lorree Bayiatis, a Las Vegas native who was filling her van at a Chevron station on Maryland Parkway and Tropicana Road.

"There's got to be a way to not be so dependent on foreign oil," she said.

Henderson resident Tim Fournier, who was at a Costco station near Sunset Road and Marks Street, said other technologies should be researched.

"Hydrogen cells -- that's where we should be going," he said. "But the oil companies don't seem to like that."

In any case, area dealers who sell hybrid cars see the current state of affairs as a boon for their bottom line.

"If the price of gas continues to stay up there in the next 90 days or six months, we'll see a lot more of this," said Lee, of Shack Findlay Honda.