Pssst. Wanna buy a $25K Honda Civic with a 220-mile driving range and the trunk space of a Miata? Me niether. Since its introduction over a decade ago, the Honda Civic GX has sold between 500 – 1000 per year; production has just been boosted to a mere 1500 p.a. The Civic Hybrid sells more than double that every month. Honda cites parts shortage as a bottleneck, primarily the greenest Civic’s lightweight and costly carbon fiber fuel tank. The Cutting Edge News’ Edwin Black isn’t satisfied with that explanation. In fact, Black claims a conspiracy to suppress production of the GX. Citing the inability of the Spokane, WA school system to secure a fleet of CNG-mobiles, Black chides Honda for milking maximum PR mileage on a car they CLEARLY don’t give a damn about. Even worse (for hardly anyone), the Civic GX is going out of production until June 2009 while production is moving to Honda’s new Indiana plant. Black contrasts this green conspiracy to GM’s promise to manufacture and sell as many hundreds of thousands of Volts and other electrified vehicles to as many as it can as quickly as it can at the best price that it can.” So why isn’t Black giving GM (and Ford) a hard time for discontinuing their CNG vehicles a few years back?
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Honda had better watch their backs. Hyundai and Toyota have “gassers” which are also HYBRIDS as well, in the wings. Toyota’s upcoming Camry CNG Hybrid will even be sold in the states (unlike the Hyundai Elantra LNG hybrid which will be S. Korea only – for now).
I’d LOVE a CNG powered hybrid Camry and PHILL unit at home. I could handle $2 per gallon (gasoline gallon equivalent that is) AND savings of 33% due to the hybrid nature of the vehicle, too.
Whoa, boyz — Your cargo area is smaller yet with the CNG tank and battery pack…
Of course, if you can drive by a gas station in Tennesee in which people are fighting over “juice”, that could make up for it.
The criticism of Honda on this score makes no sense. Everyone else bailed out of the factory built CNG car market all together and Honda has maintained a low volume toe hold in it. For this they are to be pilloried?
Honda only sells this vehicle in a few areas where they have a support network and trained dealers in place. Sure, this isn’t ideal … but nobody else is offering anything CNG! The Cutting Edge is barking up the wrong tree here.
If this car was offered in a manual and had a range of 400 miles I would have already bought one. I don’t need trunk space to get to work.
I don’t understand why the U.S. has ignored CNG for so long?!
Having the car full of gas every morning (via PHILL) and never having to hit a gas station would be a huge time saver and well worth it.
@Syn-Ack: it’s a chicken and egg situation revolving around the the fact that compression is costly. Phill costs $4K before the $1K tax credit, and pumps that can deliver CNG faster probably cost a lot more, not including the cost of electricity. Even at the current standard of 3600psi, there’s only so much CNG that can be stuffed in a tank, which limits range. A larger aftermarket tank would get your desired range, likely at the cost of the Civic’s back seat.
Two states, UT and OK, passed laws last year capping the price of CNG to a small cost above extraction. The market for used CNG vehicles has heated up: a decade-old Cavalier is in the high 4 figures. Thanks to increased demand, the pump supply isn’t always enough to completely fill a tank.