Big 3 play catch-up in the hybrid game; But automakers have different approaches.(Insight)

Byline: Richard Truett

There's no polite way around it: Detroit's automakers misjudged the consumer appeal of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. The Big 3 now are working to overcome what some view as a major strategy blunder and a public relations misstep.

General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler group are favorite targets for environmentalists and others for building gas-guzzling vehicles - and for the lack of hybrids in their lineups.

Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. will sell about 200,000 gasoline-electric hybrids in the United States in 2005. Honda offers the Insight, Civic and Accord hybrids.

Toyota has the top-selling hybrid, the Prius. It adds the Lexus RX 400h SUV on Friday, April 15, and, in June, a Highlander SUV hybrid. Toyota is poised to sell at least 100,000 Prius hybrids in the …