Hybrid cars use both electricity and gasoline to run and are considered less harmful to the environment.

The Attitudes Toward “Green” Efforts survey, which was released Jan. 9 and funded by Deloitte, revealed that Generation Y vehicle shoppers are more concerned about a car’s mpg rating than its environmental impact, said Jeremy Vanisacker, a business administration graduate student who worked on the survey.

“Personally, I think it makes a lot of sense,” Vanisacker said. “I want to help out, but I don’t know how much I’m willing to pay.”

According to the survey, Generation Y members said they would pay up to $1,500 more for a hybrid model of a car without an increase in mpg. However, they would pay up to $8,000 more for a car with an additional 15 mpg.

“Generation Y is concerned about the environment and they do want to do the right thing,” said Clay Voorhees, the project’s lead faculty member and an assistant marketing professor. “But now they are starting to get to the age of financial responsibility.”

The research expands on a previous Deloitte study focused on Generation Y’s vehicle buying practices, said Ed Vela, the senior marketing manager for automotive practice at Deloitte.

Deloitte funded the research done by MSU faculty and students, but Vela declined to give the budget for the project.

Vanisacker, who said the Ford Fusion will be at the top of his list when he decides to buy a new car, currently drives a 2003 GMC Sonoma. The Fusion is not a hybrid car, but it gets up to 35 mpg, according to Ford Motor Co.’s official Web site.

Spartan Toyota, 5701 S. Pennsylvania Ave., in Lansing, sold about 150 hybrid vehicles in 2009, with the Toyota Prius as one of the top selling cars, General Manager Deanna Criscuolo said. She said there isn’t a specific age group that is more likely to buy a hybrid car.

“The age is pretty variable from Gen Y to people over 55,” she said. “It is really people that are environmentally conscious.”

A driving factor behind hybrid car sales is the price of gas, Criscuolo said.

“When (gas was) $4 a gallon, we had a six-month waiting list for the Prius,” she said. “Now that it’s under $3, we have some in stock for immediate delivery.”

Gas prices will make a big difference when construction management junior Ray Whearley decides to invest in a new vehicle.

Whearley, who lives in Chicago, said he can travel from MSU to Chicago and back on half of a tank of gas in his Ford Focus — an attractive feature of the vehicle.

“In this day and age when gas prices are rising, sometimes falling, but mostly rising, I’d say the mpg is important to me,” Whearley said.