Automakers and car buyers are taking a second, harder look at hybrids after leaving them behind for electric vehicles.

There are a lot of things Sarah Martens likes about the 2025 Toyota Highlander hybrid she bought a few months ago. Its pearlescent white paint shimmers in the sunlight. It has lots of safety features. And for a large sport utility vehicle, it sips gasoline, getting nearly 30 miles per gallon at times.

But the thing she likes most: It doesn’t feel like a hybrid.

“It’s so smooth,” said Ms. Martens, a Pilates instructor in Ann Arbor, Mich. “When it starts off from a stoplight or switches from electric to gas, I can’t tell I’m driving a hybrid. It just seems like I’m driving a normal car.”

Not so long ago, it seemed that the heyday of hybrids had come and gone. As Tesla and the potential of electric vehicles grabbed the imaginations of drivers