The English "benzene" is "Benzol" in German. The English
"gasoline" is "Benzin" in German. "Sprit" (related to the
English "spirit") is often used in German as a term for
both gasoline and diesel fuel. The same goes for "Treibstoff"
(yes, "driving stuff" is a good translation, though it actually
means "drive" more in the sense of "cause to move" than "drive
a car" (of course, these two meanings are also related)).

Why drive a Prius in Germany? There are several cars which use
about 4 liters of diesel (which is cheaper than gasoline here)
for a hundred kilometers (rule of thumb: divide 240 by one figure
to get the other, i.e. 4 liters for a hundred kilometers is 60
miles per gallon). One can get by with less by driving, say only
80 km/h. These include 4-door cars which are reasonably large.

Where the hybrid is good is stop-and-go traffic. However, since
most commuters use public transportation, a larger fraction of
traffic is long-distance travel, where essentially the hybrid
doesn't help much. It might even be a disadvantage since it is
more weight, more technology etc. I don't think a Prius can get
more than 60 m.p.g. on the highway. It probably also costs more than
efficient cars like the Skoda Fabia.