Why are cyclocross bikes so much more expensive than similar hybrids?

I have Jamis Nova Pro cyclocross bike with Ultegra Di2. Great gearing, glides over London potholes and bumps, can deal with pavement hops to get around jams, is fast enough to get up the hills with minimal hassle, disc brakes to stop in the wet or to avoid left-turning WVM. Great commuting bike, great winter bike, and huge fun at weekends on the South Downs in the mud.

I love it and feel it's worth the cash.

I've got a 2000 Cannondale Hybrid (upgraded with carbon forks, disc brakes) which I use for commuting/utility but started 'lusting' for a CX bike. I run Cyclemeter on my 17.5 mile trip back from work (once/twice a week - take the bike on the train, although sometimes bike both ways in the summer) which involves mostly tarmac cycle paths and very little traffic hold ups. The hybrid (130 logged rides) average (1hr 10m) is only 10 min slower than my steel Genesis road bike (40 logged rides) so I told myself to stop thinking that the CX bike would change my life, especially if it had mudguards, rack and D lock. Seeing the hydrid spends most of its life locked up in town or squeezed into a train's bike compartment, it seems like the most practical solution.

Tiagra STI road lever pair: list £175

Tiagra flat-bar set (shifters + levers): list £105

There's £70 for ya right there.

If you draw a proper comparison between cx and hybrid bikes with similar spec from the same manufacturer, you'll almost always find that the brake/shift levers on the cx account for the difference in price. Separate thumb shifters cost buttons in comparison.

I have a Boardman Hybrid for commuting, with the plan being to replace it with the new CX Team so that I have a better position for fighting into the wind. I considered converting the hybrid, but the cost of new bars, brifters and cable disc brakes came to more than half what a whole new bike would cost me through cycle 2 work scheme.

I may be in the minority but my hybrid was very definitely n+1 and bought specifically for commuting.

Take into account the size of the market too.
CX bikes, likely to be bought by people already into cycling seriously as second/third/N+1 bike
Hybrids, likely to be bought by the general population as a sole bike.

It would be better to compare the CX Comp (£699) with Hybird Comp (£499) or the CX Team (£899) with the Hybrid Team (£749).
The is still a difference in price but it is less.
The first thing I noticed was the Hybrid Comp has a Sram X5 groupset and the CX Team has Sram Apex. So although the same brand, they aren't the same teir and therefore not the same price.

Secondly I wouldn't say the CX bikes are aimed directly at the hybrid market. They have increasingly become more versitile 'do it all bikes' and as such tend to be better spec'd and better built than straight out hybrid bikes. The increasing occurance of rack and mudguard eyelets as well as bottle bosses means that these bikes are being used as winter trainers as well as for the uses you mentioned above.

Price is partly a function of what the market will pay.

Hybrid bikes are more utilitarian, and people will only pay so much for "a bike to go to work on".

CX bikes have more of an emotional aspect to the purchase, so people will pay more.

Just a theory.

SD if you were ever to race me then that would become obvious, my idea of resistance training is smoking and to me a training ride is one where I am too drunk to ride home and have to get the train, even my posts have now become so slow that I have been lapped.

Anyway your 29er is cool.

The main reason should be that cross bikes are race bikes, and the frames should be engineered for that. Where as hybrids are leisure bikes, so don't necessarily need as hardy.

How did I answer that before you asked!

CX bike = cool.

Hybrid, well, erm, not cool.

CX bike = cool.

Hybrid, well, erm, not cool.

I was going to point for the shifters for a start. Maybe better to compare bikes of the same price and see what you get.

While a CX bike shares the versatility of a hybrid, it is not a hybrid. It's more of a subset of a road bike, just with a few special versatility-adding dimensions. The biggest difference in price between hybrid and 'cross bike is coming from the latter's road bike drivetrain. The CX bike posted above has integrated SRAM Apex shifters, which are on a different, more expensive level on than the thumb shifters on a hybrid.

Keith Bontrager made his famous aphorism about mountain bikes:

"Strong. Light. Cheap. Pick Two."

I think in Cyclo Cross it's that with stilts on since you have to carry the damn bike up anything you can't ride up and it takes some abuse.

I would hazard a guess more design work and testing, probably a better material, lighter weight, and probably nicer wheels.

all potentially little details that can all add up

Your first sentence should have explained it all.

"cyclocross bandwagon"

BOOM, there is your answer, while it is popular, people are going to cash in.

Just like when carbon first came out, now the prices have come down.

It is also because cyclocross bikes are perfect for winter bikes and commuter, this keeps the value up