If you are thinking about going green with your next auto purchase this next report could help you make up your mind.<br />That's right. We're going to talk about hybrid cars. What pulls many back from buying hybrid cars is the cost.<br />Our Kim Ji-yeon takes a closer look on this week's Industry Insight.<br /><br />Despite falling oil prices,... Korean drivers are increasingly turning to hybrid cars,... <br />powered by a combination of gas and electricity.<br />Around 52-hundred hybrids were sold during the first two months of this year alone,... led by Hyundai Motor's Sonata Hybrid.<br />The driving force behind the hybrid's popularity... is a change in public perception,... as myths surrounding hybrids are debunked.<br />When consumers hear the words "electric vehicle," they think of plugs, cords and wall sockets.<br />But today's hybrids don't necessarily have to be plugged in.<br />Auto engineers have developed a system known as regenerative braking that helps cars retrieve and store energy.<br /><br /><br />Energy normally lost when the car slows downs or stops is reclaimed and sent to the hybrid's rechargeable batteries.<br />The gas engine also transfers energy to the batteries, automatically."<br /><br />Another common misconception is that hybrid drivers are paying more just to save the environment.<br />But in reality, it's not all about altruism.<br />Drivers can actually save when they go hybrid. <br />The sticker price for a Sonata Hybrid starts at 27-thousand U.S. dollars,... just 18-hundred more than a non-hybrid Sonata.<br />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.<br /><br /><br />"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."<br /><br />Also, drivers who buy a hybrid this year will be eligible for various local tax cuts and government subsidies.<br />Hybrids that em
