Few things capture the thoughts like the mysterious future. Cartoons and TV shows have shown us some pretty creative possibilities of what vehicles would become. How did you imagine we would travel in the year 2010? Floating space speeders like on The Jetsons? Hovering land speeders like in Star Wars? We imagined better, faster, cooler cars than ever. Technology has taken a completely different direction. Cars already do what we need them to do. No purpose other than extreme coolness would be served by having cars that hover. The police are busy trying to slow drivers down because our cars already go more than fast enough. In fact, in many places there’s so much traffic that cars can’t use the speed they already have. Aesthetics are still important, but rather than buying the flashiest possible car, people are choosing streamlined, attractive cars. Even spoilers are usually understated and painted the same color as the car. Huge improvements in reliability and safety have become more important than other considerations. So what do we need from our cars that we don’t have? More practicality – fuel efficiency. Driving our cars is hard on our wallets because the price of gasoline has risen so much. Cars that run on less gasoline, or none at all, are the hot sellers. Automakers have a lot of choices for reaching this goal, from hydrogen to biofuel to propane. None of these technologies is perfect yet, especially economically. One technology has taken the lead in the last few years and reached the consumer via the car dealership showroom: electricity. Hybrids were the first to hit the market and fully electric vehicles aren’t far behind. The Toyota Prius was the first to be offered at a price that large numbers of consumers could afford. The other automakers followed closely on their heels. Choices now include the Infiniti M35, Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Honda Civic. Cadillac’s Escalade and GMC’s Sierra prove that hybrids no longer have to be only small, lightweight cars. The government has helped by offering incentives to those involved in manufacturing or buying cars that use less gasoline and are less damaging to the environment. You can go buy one of these cars today at your local Southern California Honda Dealership or Car Dealers Des Moines with no problem. The next development we’ll see is the fully electric vehicle. They’ve been out in very small numbers until now, seen at car shows or as part of a fleet of cars driven by the local electric company. Finally cars like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt are hitting showrooms. Limited range and battery price are not completely resolved yet, but clearly this is the direction that new cars are going. One innovation that gets a lot less attention is just good old fashioned fuel efficiency. A car can run on gasoline, but use a lot less of it. This is a technology that’s been slowly but steadily improving for many years. Look at the non-hybrid version of the Honda Civic, which gets 34 MPG or the Ford Focus with its 35 MPG highway. This was unimaginable back in the 80’s when gas was only $1.35 a gallon and we loved our V8s. So while we’re unlikely to see cars like the DeLorean from Back to the Future or Kitt from the Knight Rider, cars will continue to evolve to meet our ever-changing needs. America’s love affair with the automobile is far from over.