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"         A colleague who&amp;#039;s involved with an agency that deals with alternative forms of energy told me not too long ago that there will never be an abundance of hybrid supercars on the market. &amp;quot;Supercars aren&amp;#039;t everyday commuters; they are an indulgence. Therefore, not many people will want to cut corners when it comes to the performance of their toys, and having hybrid-powered cars is still considered a tradeoff for high performance,&amp;quot; he explained.   He went on to say that automobiles will have evolved into either full EVs or hydrogen-powered vehicles before we ever see an onslaught of hybrid-powered exotics, so the supercar genre will most likely skip the &amp;quot;hybrid&amp;quot; stage altogether.   At the time, his statements made a lot of sense, but after talking with a few select journalists and engineers in Japan, his predictions might be a bit off. According to my sources, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda are planning to roll out a new crop of hybrid supercars in 2015. You already know about the Acura NSX, which made its debut at this past North American International Auto Show and popularized in television spots featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. (For those who aren&amp;#039;t familiar with the NSX, see last month&amp;#039;s cover story.) Nissan is also aggressively showcasing its PHEV supercar, the Infiniti EMERG-E. This concept, shown in Geneva, is powered by an electric motor with a 1.2-liter gasoline engine that recharges the battery, similar to the system in the Fisker Karma, a hybrid luxury sedan already on the market. The EMERG-E, if produced, will run from zero to 60 mph in about 3.0 seconds. We also discovered that Lexus is working on the successor to the ; this LFA II may come equipped with a 5.0-liter V-10 and an electric motor. Combined output is reported be around 550 hp while fuel economy will improve twofold. What&amp;#039;s most intriguing is that its price tag is expected to be $700,000 (twice the price of the original).   Last but certainly not least is Mazda&amp;#039;s version of a hybrid sports car. In a previous column, I wrote that the only way the rotary engine will survive is if it can embrace alternative forms of energy or be part of a hybrid system. A colleague close to the company informed me recently that development of the next-generation rotary engine continues, and there is a good chance that it will be part of a hybrid system for the company&amp;#039;s next high-performance sports car, the RX-9. If such a car is produced, the styling will be based on the Shinari Concept shown in 2010.        2015 Mazda RX-9    All this news was music to my ears. Being a Japanese sports-car fan, I was worried that the country that gave us the NSX, Z, Miata and 2000GT would stop producing sports cars altogether as demand for these niche vehicles has drastically dropped in the Japanese home market. One of the reasons for this decline is Japan&amp;#039;s population is decreasing at an alarming rate\u2014experts forecast that it will shrink 30 percent by 2060\u2014meaning there will be fewer car enthusiasts in the marketplace. Another factor is Japanese people, in general, like compact, fuel-efficient cars, especially in big cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.   But the Japanese carmakers are well aware that for them to flourish on the world stage, they need to adopt an aggressive battle plan, to do things that other car companies can&amp;#039;t or won&amp;#039;t do. What better way than combine their expertise in hybrid power with their ability to produce exciting sports cars. This strategy does present a tremendous risk\u2014as my colleague said, there may never be a market for hybrid-powered supercars\u2014but I for one think it&amp;#039;s a risk well worth taking. And not just because I think my colleague is wrong, because maybe, just maybe, I&amp;#039;ll be in the market for one someday soon. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a18289/japans-hybrid-sports-car-revolution/>