NATCHEZ &8212; John Dees knew he had found the car of his dreams the first time he saw it.

It wasn&8217;t a fancy convertible, a luxury sedan or flashy sports car. It was a hybrid.

And it was so new that it took a local dealership more than a year to get it for him.

&8220;I saw it in a trade magazine,&8221; Dees said. &8220;I took it to the dealership and showed them the picture and said this is what I want. A year and a half later, they got it.&8221;

In 2000, Dees drove out of the lot in his Honda Insight. Six years later, he could not be happier with his peppy little car that operates sometimes on the gasoline engine and sometimes on the electric.

He has no problem keeping up with the big guys on the highway. And when a big car does zip by him he just smiles, knowing that he&8217;ll pass them when they stop for gasoline. His Insight averages 70 miles per gallon.

Peggy Pierrepont is another highly satisfied hybrid owner. She bought a hybrid Toyota Highlander earlier this year.

&8220;I feel as though I&8217;m driving the future,&8221; she said.

&8220;The gas mileage obviously is phenomenal but really it is the emissions I care about.

&8220;I am committed to my responsibility towards the earth,&8221; Pierrepont said. &8220;Every little thing that I can do is a step forward for cleaner air.&8221;

Tommy Ratcliff, sales manager at Trace City Toyota, said the Toyota company began developing hybrids about 15 years ago, first bringing the models out on the West Coast and then the East Coast.

The Prius, a compact car sold only as a hybrid, has been available for about 10 years but only for about three years throughout the country.

&8220;When we get a Prius on our lot, it is gone within 12 hours,&8221; Ratcliff said. The Highlander, an SUV, is available both as a traditional and a hybrid model.

Ratcliff said the hybrid has three motors &8212; a conventional gas-operated motor, an electric-drive motor and an electric generator motor for the battery. And, no, the owner does not have to plug the car into an electric outlet every night.

&8220;The car adjusts from gas to electric as needed,&8221; Ratcliff said. &8220;On flat ground at about 30 miles per hour or less, you&8217;ll be on the electric motor. If you come up on a car and want to pass it, the car switches to gas.&8221;

On the highway, the engines work in the same way, he said. &8220;On cruise control on flat highway, you can use the electric motor at 70 miles per hour,&8221; he said.

What the hybrid does not have is a lot of low-end torque, he said. &8220;You can&8217;t pull a trailer.&8221;

Sean Waggoner, sales manager at East Automotive, said Honda, like Toyota, has been a leader in developing hybrids. &8220;John Dees must have been one of the first if not the first owner of a hybrid in our area,&8221; Waggoner said.

&8220;Response to the hybrids is always good,&8221; he said. &8220;People love the gas mileage and there are no service issues.&8221;

The biggest drawback for the consumer is that hybrids for now are slightly more expensive than gasoline-only cars.

Waggoner offered an example. &8220;A Honda Civic at about $18,000 will be roughly $21,000 for a hybrid.&8221;

The consumer has to decide the importance of getting the excellent gas mileage and protecting the environment at the same time.

&8220;I know people want to help the planet,&8221; he said. &8220;They&8217;re concerned about the environment, and that can be a driving factor.&8221;

Waggoner believes hybrid prices gradually will fall. &8220;I believe the parts and the labor will become cheaper and in the near future hybrid prices will go down,&8221; he said.

Hybrids may be the way all automobiles will go in the future, he said. &8220;The environment has to come first, and these cars are major factors. People want a cleaner environment and don&8217;t want to use up our natural resources.&8221;

Eddie Thompson, sales manager at Great River Chevrolet Cadillac Nissan GMC, said General Motors also has begun to offer hybrids. One of the first sold at Great River was a Silverado truck.

&8220;Hybrids are good vehicles, but the cost to produce them is higher,&8221; he said.

General Motors has been focusing on creating hybrids among the group of vehicles that use the most gasoline, Thompson said. That includes not only trucks and SUVs but also buses.

Literature from General Motors provided by Thompson shows that the company has &8220;delivered more than 380 hybrid systems for transit buses to 29 cities in the U.S. and Canada.&8221;

In addition, Thompson said, General Motors continues working on &8220;flexfuel vehicles,&8221; which are not hybrids but rather are designed to use gasoline or E85 ethanol, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Most automobile companies now are on the hybrid bandwagon, Waggoner said. &8220;Ford has come out with theirs and other automobile companies are, too. The next step will be getting the big SUVs and trucks into hybrids.&8221;