So-called experts are now predicting that the ‘Hybrid Storm’ will arrive in 2008, or at the latest in early ‘09. While no one knows exactly what it will look like, many believe that it will grab the attention of every car magazine, automotive website, and media outlet around the country. While it may not seem obvious now, there’s a good chance that the second half of 2007 will historically be viewed as the calm before the hybrid Storm. After almost 10 years in the making, it seems the wait is nearly over.

While the hybrid storm might sound like an ill-conceived resurrection of a 15 year old car from Geo, it’s not. In fact, it’s not a hybrid car or suv at all. Our version of the hybrid storm is simply a prediction of what Malcolm Gladwell would call a Tipping Point; that moment when hybrid vehicles cross over from being misunderstood to going mainstream. Several key indicators point to the hybrid storm arriving sometime in the next 6-18 months.

Riding The Storm Out. Roughly 250,000 hybrid vehicles were sold in 2006, which represented a 20% increase over 2005 sales. In the first half of 2007, hybrid sales were up nearly 50% over the same period in ‘06. And while the hybrid market cooled off in Q3, the slowdown was likely due to the reduction in hybrid tax credits, lack of dealer inventories, and lower gas prices. Or was it?

Our prediction is that we’re about to enter the “early majority” phase of Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations theory. Say what? It’s during this stage that innovations (i.e. hybrid technology) take off. It’s at this point that many of the people who said they’d never buy a hybrid somehow end up staring at a Google results page for “How Hybrids Work”.

The Storm is Brewing.  Gas prices are nearing 6 month lows, and at the same time - record oil prices and $100 barrels of crude are in the news. People aren’t going to stop driving…but they will start looking for ways to avoid the $75 fill up.

Besides the Prius, hybrid vehicles are currently scarce. At the same time, the 2008 models are about to come to the rescue, including more Highlanders, Escapes, Vues, Camrys, and Altimas…and let’s not forget about the long awaited Tahoe and Yukon and Durango. Manufacturers are rolling out the hybrids, and more are coming.

Green is Queen, and About to Become King. Only 6 months ago, you could go all week without reading or hearing about how we can save the environment. Now, I seldom go a day without seeing several stories. (A quick jump over to the MSN homepage just yielded this beauty “Can Spending Help Save The Earth?“.)

Face it. The hybrid storm is coming. The question is, will Time magazine’s 2008 “Man of the Year” be the Hybrid Vehicle? Remember ‘82?