Despite the troubles of the car market in general, demand for hybrid cars has remained flat. Hybrid car sales in 2009 are expected to remain at about 2.5% of overall car sales. The Toyota Prius continues to be the top selling hybrid followed closely by the Honda Insight.Nine years after the introduction of the Prius and Insight these two hybrid pioneers continue to improve and dominate the market. The new Prius introduced in January 2009 is bigger and has more horsepower than its predecessors. The Prius has an impressive US fuel economy rating of 50 MPG.

Honda’s Insight is competitively priced for several thousand dollars less than the Prius and with a 40 MPG US fuel economy rating the Insight is the most affordable high mileage vehicle on the market.

Returning hybrid models include the improved and sportier Honda Civic hybrid with optional leather trimmed seats and heated front seats and side mirrors, the Ford Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

Joining the hybrid market for the first time in 2009 are the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan, Ford’s first hybrid sedans. The Fusion is expected to get 40 MPG and pure electric speeds of up to 47 miles per hour.

The Mercedes S-Class Hybrid uses the new lighter lithium battery and promises 30 MPG. The luxury S-Class starts at about $88,000 and will cost $30,000 more than the only other luxury hybrid sedan the V8 Lexus GS 450h. The GS only promises 23 MPG but will outperform the S-Class.

The Lexus Hybrid HS 250h shares the same basic platform as the 2010 Prius although the HS 250h is 40% more powerful, longer, wider and taller than the Prius.  The HS 250h official mileage is 35 MPG in the city and 34 on the highway. It sells for $34,200.

BMW 7-series hybrid has been unveiled as a concept car but is not expected to be on the market for another 2 or 3 years.

For those of you looking for plug-in hybrid technology there are several smaller, innovative companies offering plug-in hybrid vehicles in limited quantities. However because all these are smaller companies there are not expected to be large quanities of these plug-in models available for purchase in the near future.

Included among those producing plug-in hybrids is Fisker, an American manufacturer of green automobiles, which unveiled its first production car the Fisker-Karma with a starting price of around $87,000.  1,000 orders for the 100 mile-per-gallon luxury plug-in hybrid have been received since the prototype was unveiled and deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009.

VentureOne is a unique, two passenger three wheel plug-in manufactured by Venture Vehicles out of Los Angeles. The VentureOne gets 100 MPG; achieves speeds of 100 miles per hour and sells for around $20,000.

Phoenix Motorcars also from California started off in 2002 with a bang feel on tough times filing Chapter 11 in April 2009. The car maker appears to have emerged from Chapter 11 with new investors and is once again promoting its SUT and SUV all electric cars.