Green Car Journal has named the Honda Civic Natural Gas as its 2012 Green Car of the Year® at a press conference during the Los Angeles Auto Show.
This year’s Green Car of the Year program showcased five outstanding finalists reflecting distinctly different approaches to ‘green’ motoring – the Ford Focus Electric, Honda Civic Natural Gas, Mitsubishi i, Toyota Prius v, and the VW Passat TDI – two electric vehicles, one hybrid, one clean diesel, and one powered by natural gas.
Selecting this year’s Green Car of the Year was a jury of six environmental and automotive experts plus Green Car Journal editors. Invited jurors included Carl Pope, chairman of the Sierra Club; Francis Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures Society; Matt Petersen, president of Global Green USA; auto expert and Tonight Show host Jay Leno; and automotive icon Carroll Shelby.
The 2012 Civic Natural Gas is the fifth generation of this alternative fuel vehicle and the only assembly-line produced natural gas passenger model manufactured for sale in the United States. It runs on a clean fuel that is almost exclusively domestically sourced and typically priced about 30 percent less than gasoline. The Civic Natural Gas is also the cleanest running internal combustion vehicle certified by the EPA.
The all-new 2012 model features greater fuel efficiency, a handsome and roomier new design, and tailpipe emissions levels untouchable by any other internal combustion production vehicle. After manufacturing this environmentally conscious model for fleets since its introduction in 1998, Honda has now made a major commitment to bring its exceptional, American-built natural gas sedan to everyday buyers, offering an all-new array of popular consumer-oriented features and availability through 200 Honda dealers in 36 states.
The Honda Civic Natural Gas is an Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle with an EPA highway fuel economy rating of 38 highway MPGe. It is designed for efficiency in ways that require no attention on a driver’s part, while enabling a driver to actively influence efficiency with a selectable ECO feature. With this system a driver chooses when, and under what circumstances, to drive more conservatively to fully optimize fuel economy in an already-efficient vehicle.
This sedan is accommodating, with seating for five and many desirable features that make driving a comfortable and pleasurable experience. It offers a sophisticated array of active and passive safety systems that earn it a ‘Top Safety Pick’ rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Along with fast-fills in about five minutes at stations offering compressed natural gas fueling, the Civic Natural Gas can be time-filled at home overnight with an available wall-mount refueling appliance from BRC Fuel Maker. The $26,155 Civic Natural Gas can drive approximately 240 miles on a tankful of compressed natural gas, almost two-and-a-half times the range of a typical all-electric vehicle.
