Who's driving a hybrid?

A recent study conducted by Autobytel reports on who's buying hybrid cars. The statistics are surprising. The buyers aren't just young Blue State drivers on the two coasts. (And they're not all like Ed Begley, Jr. and Laurie David, either.)

40% are Republicans.
36% are Democrats.
12% are Independents, and another 12% consider themselves unaffiliated.

31% are in the Northeast.
16% call the West Coast home.
21% live in the Midwest.
20% are from the Southeast, while 12% are from the Southwest.

57% are over age 45.
16% are 65 or older.

48.5% don’t have a college degree.
24.5% have a college degree.
27% have a graduate degree.

52% have a household income of $60,000.
35% make less than $40,000 a year.

(Courtesy of the What's Offline column in The New York Times, which cites a Reader's Digest article that quotes from the Autobytel study linked above.) In related news, Toyota announced it's testing a hybrid that can be re-charged in a regular outlet and will run for much longer than previous plug-in engines. Meanwhile, Porsche is developing a hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV.