“Hybrids are less than 3 percent of the market, and they’ve been less than 3 percent for years,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with the research firm IHS Global Insight. “The idea that people are going to immediately accept electric vehicles when hybrids are such a small part of the market is sort of dangerous.”

Still, so many battery-powered cars are at the show that a section of this year’s show floor, called “Electric Avenue,” was set aside for them.

Image A Hyundai Motor gasoline-electric hybrid. Credit... Bryan Mitchell/Getty Images

The vehicles on display include the forthcoming Nissan Leaf  the only model Nissan brought to Detroit  and the 39-inch-wide Tango, priced at $85,000, from a company called Commuter Cars.

Toyota, the leader in the current hybrid market, said on Monday that it would create a family of hybrids that would carry the name of its Prius sedan. It showed off a concept version of a car smaller than today’s Prius, which it called the FT-CH, which could be part of that lineup.

James E. Lentz, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said the company planned to introduce hybrid powertrains across much of its lineup and thought that hybrids “will become the core technology of the entire industry.”

Honda, which is trying to better compete with Toyota in hybrids, introduced the CR-Z coupe, which will arrive at dealerships in several months.