You can test-drive a 2004 Prius at Alexandria Toyota, but if you buy one you can't take it home. The waiting list stretches at least to April.


"I didn't expect this much interest," said sales manager Mike Baird, who has 65 Priuses on back order.


The gasoline-electric hybrid car that started as a fad for environmentalists has become a full-fledged phenomenon. It is Motor Trend magazine's "car of the year" and one of the fastest-selling vehicles in the nation.


Washington is one of the top regions for sales of Prius and other hybrids, which also include the Honda Insight and Civic Hybrid, in part because Virginia allows hybrid cars with specially issued license plates in high-occupancy-vehicle lanes. Area residents buy about 10 percent of the hybrid vehicles sold in the United States, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association.


Despite the technology's growing popularity, Detroit automakers seem to be playing catch-up again to their Japanese rivals, with no similar products expected from the Big Three until next year. But it isn't simply a matter of being caught flat-footed. U.S. automakers -- and some Europeans, as well -- remain skeptical about hybrid technology, and plan to approach it differently than Toyota and Honda.


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