Natural-gas-powered Civic sold out at dealers until June
You might not know it, but the Honda Civic GX is immensely popular these days. You couldn't get one of these compressed natural gas-powered cars is you wanted one, according to Green Car Advisor over at Edmonds. The best you could do is put their name on a waiting list that currently will get you a GX around June (only Honda dealers in California and New York sell the Civic GX to normal customers).
Edmonds write that Honda is thinking about doubling the number of GXs it makes each year (currently 1,000) and that for most of the past decade, Honda sold around 700 of these cars each year. GX buyers make some sacrifices when they opt for the GX over the base (and gasoline-powered) LX - less power and a higher MSRP - but demand for the gasoline-free cars is still shooting up thanks mostly to the cheap cost of natural gas. The carpool sticker offer probably helps driver sales as well, but Honda'll take our money whatever the reason.
Gallery: 2007 Honda Civic GX
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[Source: Green Car Advisor]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph 5:02PM (2/17/2008)
Refueling for natural gas vehicles and for electric vehicles is very similar.
For both, you can refuel at home.
For natural gas vehicles there are quick refueling stations dotted across the country. Presumably, the same would happen for EVs if they began to be sold by the thousands.
EVs and NGVs have similar a similar range. Honda claims 220-250 miles from their natural gas civic, which is basically what Tesla Motors claims on their Roadster.
If thousands of people are willing to buy/lease a natural gas vehicle each year despite refueling difficulties (difficulties which are nearly the same for EVs) then wouldn't that assure that recharging and range is no longer as much of a problem for bringing EVs to market?
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Throwback 7:55AM (2/18/2008)
1000 GXs per year is a very small percentage of Civics sold each year. How many are bought by private individuals versus companies?
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Paul Allen 10:41AM (2/18/2008)
700 cars a year is "immensely popular"?
Hey guys, April 1 is still 6 weeks away.
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Bill 10:44PM (2/18/2008)
;ast time I checked, home refueling stations are only sold in CA and NY.
most NG refueling stations here are for city/state-owned fleet vehicles, not open to the public
sure, if you live in southern CA, it's a great deal for a daily commuter - fuel cost probably 1/2 that of gasoline, plenty of quick-fuel stations open to the public
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Brian 12:10AM (2/20/2008)
I can't believe CNG cars are not more prevalent. In states like Utah where I live CNG is a regulated price currently 64 cents per gallon. My brother-in-law picked up a used CNG civic for $10k, will be getting a $2500 gov credit, and is getting about 32mpg with it. He drives about 250 miles on $5 of CNG...it's amazing.
Forget all the hybrid hype which is too expensive, expensive battery to replace in a few years, and will never pay-off in the life of the car, go CNG! I wish automakers would start producing more CNG cars so it weren't so difficult to find one.
BTW, home refueling stations are not worth the money for CNG. You can do it, but the cost far outweighs the benefit unless the convenience of it is worth a lot to you. From what I've seen we're talking about $5000.
Somebody please explain why CNG isn't being pushed as an alternative fuel for cars. It burns with nearly zero emissions, it's cheap, and it's fairly easy to find a station to refuel. To me this is the best answer we have at the moment! Why aren't environmentalists and the like all over these cars?
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