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Anyway, semantics aside, I think the manufacturers are guilty but the consumers are even guiltier; after all it is they who are voting with their dollars.
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To an extent, yes, but the consumers can't buy a product that is not available. Consumer demand for EVs in the US where gas was cheap was extremely positive, but that is demand that the auto industry wished was not expressed and demand that the auto industry did not want to meet. Never mind Europe, where gas is $7.00/gallon and demand for EVs is even higher. The industry refuses to meet it, regardless of what the consumer wants. They know that the small companies willing to offer EVs don't have the economic means to make their product affordable.
If someone today were to put to market a 60 mpg midsize car that did 0-60 mph in 9 seconds, cost $15,000, and didn't use a hybrid drivetrain, the public would flock to it like crazy and demand more of these sorts of cars be built. But since such a car hasn't been built...
Even the hybrids of today fly off the lots like crazy. Just a few months ago no where near enough were being made to meet demand. Before the TDis were taken out of the market in the US, they were flying off the lots post $2/gallon as well, with demand unmet.
For fuel efficient cars, it's been a sellers market for years. With big SUVs sitting in the dealer lots colecting dust, the Big 3 complain about the foreign automakers offering a marginally better product, that marginally better product being that which customers flock to since that's the best the companies are willing to make.
rh77 
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