Without sounding futuristic, what’s the car of the future like?

Palermo Soriano of Columbian Autocar Corp. gave “Bulong Pulungan” at Sofitel an idea: It’s going to be a hybrid future, that future arriving soon (if rather late) in numbers in the Philippines after a few models have been running around on gasoline-cum-battery “because it’s the cleaner way to go.”

But clean is costly, and as we painfully found out after the Clean Air Act was passed, we cannot afford clean air, which is why those smoke emission testing centers are an illusion, a mirage through the haze wrapping our streets. To produce a semblance of clean air, we’d first have to kill every diesel-fed bus, jeepney and truck.

Our imported diesel is cheap because it’s so dirty it wouldn’t pass any test in Europe or North America, said Mr. Soriano. That said, how many of us can afford a four-wheel hybrid?

Speaking for Hyundai-Kia, the Korean carmaker that’s fourth in the world after Toyota, Ford and GM, Mr. Soriano sounded an optimistic note when he compared cars with cellphones. In the beginning, cp’s were big and cumbersome, but as technology improved, they became more sleek, more efficient. Same thing with hybrids, he said. With technology, hybrid engines are now lighter and smaller, and that’s going to mean lower prices eventually. How long before eventually becomes finally?