Interest in hybrid cars up, but not sales

A quarter of respondents in a U.S. survey say their interest in hybrid cars is up from a year ago, but that's not reflected in sales, market researchers say. In a Harris Poll, 23 percent said they had more interest in purchasing an alternative energy car, but at 2.7 percent of total new-vehicle sales over the past three months, hybrids still constitute a sliver of the sales picture, MediaPost News reported. That figure is actually down from prior months, it said. Interest in hybrid vehicles also wanes with age, Harris said; while nearly a third of those under 35 years of age are reported being more interested in alternative vehicle choices than they were a year ago, only 15 percent of those over the age of 67 said the same. More than half of consumers still say internal combustion engines are their power train of choice, Harris reported. The poll was taken among 2,634 U.S. adults.