Thanks for posting this up Paul, I was very surprised to read the article as over in the UK most manufacturers are climbing over themselves to do the right thing and go Hybrid or full EV.
I think also that the decision is cost-based as opposed to any other factors....hybrids cost loads to produce whereas plug-in Electric Vehicles have got to be a lot cheaper to produce.
In the UK, there is a strong debate about the future of EV being dominant in the market as there aren't enough plug-in points in a city to 'top up' your battery whereas, on a Parallel Hybrid, it doesn't matter.
Lexus is still however, strongly pushing the Hybrids here in the UK and there doesn't seem to be any let up in this trend.