Better gas mileage or BS

In the November 30th Wall Street Journal an article titled "Dear Valued Hybrid Customer...", author Holman W. Jenkins, JR, talks about the issues with the Toyota Prius and other Hybrid vehicles. He states that the Prius gets about 26 percent less gas mileage than advertised and that the car costs $9,500 more than a comparable vehicle. Also in the article Jenkins talks about how Toyota has increased horsepower in one of its SUVs by using Hybrid technology, but gas mileage has remained the same. Is the use of hybrid technology a good idea or is its just a ploy by car manufactures to make money, is the use of hybrid technology to improve horsepower and not increase fuel economy reasonable. Or is it worth paying $9,500 more for a car that will save you annually $580.