Hybrid cars outselling supply capacity

NEW YORK, June 11 (UPI) -- U.S. sales of hybrid gas-electric cars have run flat, because the supply capacity has reached its limits, industry analysts said.

"Not only are they out of cars and out of inventory, but the capacity they have for the hybrid components was locked in a year ago," George Peterson, president of AutoPacific, a consulting firm, told USA Today Wednesday.

As gas prices soar, the shortage amounts to a missed opportunity for car makers, the newspaper reported.

Inventory of hybrids is low in part due to shortages of batteries.

General Motors Corp. is short on batteries in part because of a battery recall it conducted in 2007.

Other companies are ramping up production. Toyota plans to build a new battery plant and expand on an existing one.

A spokesman for Honda said its hybrid sales are expected to rise 300 percent in the next year.

Current inventory is the problem.

"Inventory is next to nothing," said Ford sales analyst George Pipas, who concluded, "you can't sell from an empty shelf."