If you've been thinking about going green with your next auto purchase... so are more Korean consumers these days.
Saving at the pump is luring more drivers to hybrid cars... but the higher sticker cost is still putting buyers off.
Our Kim Ji-yeon takes a closer look in this week's Industry Insight.
Despite falling oil prices,... Korean drivers are increasingly turning to hybrid cars,...
powered by a combination of gas and electricity.
Around 52-hundred hybrids were sold during the first two months of this year alone,... led by Hyundai Motor's Sonata Hybrid.
The driving force behind the hybrid's popularity... is a change in public perception,... as myths surrounding hybrids are debunked.
When consumers hear the words "electric vehicle," they think of plugs, cords and wall sockets.
But today's hybrids don't necessarily have to be plugged in.
Auto engineers have developed a system known as regenerative braking that helps cars retrieve and store energy.


Energy normally lost when the car slows downs or stops is reclaimed and sent to the hybrid's rechargeable batteries.
The gas engine also transfers energy to the batteries, automatically."

Another common misconception is that hybrid drivers are paying more just to save the environment.
But in reality, it's not all about altruism.
Drivers can actually save when they go hybrid.
The sticker price for a Sonata Hybrid starts at 27-thousand U.S. dollars,... just 18-hundred more than a non-hybrid Sonata.
Assuming the gas price remains at a-dollar-30 per liter,... Hyundai says consumers can save nearly 32-hundred dollars over a five-year period.


"A drop in gas prices doesn't automatically mean that it's going to be cheaper to keep a gasoline-based model. Right now, gas is at about 14-hundred-70 won per liter, which isn't cheap. And consumers think the low-oil-price trend isn't going to last long."

Also, drivers who buy a hybrid this year will be eligible for various local tax cuts and government subsidies.
Hybrids that