Way back in the early days of mainstream hybrid adoption (about 2004 or 2005), there was some concern among green types that even though the Prius was starting to take off in popularity, competing companies would adopt hybrid engines not as a way of boosting fuel efficiency, but to make for a more powerful driving experience.
The Honda Accord hybrid was a case in point: with a bigger engine and mediocre miles-per-gallon rating, it represented a kind of worst-case scenario for applications of green vehicle technology. Although Honda cut the high-performance hybrid Accord in June 2007 — a “critical error” for which Honda “took one on the chin” — green is still coming to sports cars.