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Honda to sell natural-gas civic to U.S. consumers for $20,510

Torrance, Calif. October 9,2002; Bloomberg News reported that Honda Motor Co. said it plans to sell a natural gas version of its Civic small car to U.S. consumers next year for $20,510, as Japan's second-biggest automaker expands its range of low-pollution vehicles.

Retail sales of the Civic GX, available since 1998 as a government fleet car, coincide with Honda's plan to market home-use natural gas pumps developed by affiliate FuelMaker Corp., company spokesman Art Garner said. Sales of the car and pump, which Honda expects to sell for about $1,000, begin in 2003.

Honda last year sold about 1,000 of the East Liberty, Ohio-built small cars, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rates the cleanest combustion engine passenger car it's tested. The Tokyo-based company declined to estimate how many additional sales it expects from the consumer program.

Automakers are developing engine systems that emit less pollution as air-quality rules in the U.S., Japan and Europe tighten. Along with its natural gas car, Honda sells a hybrid gasoline-electric Civic that emits less exhaust and burns less fuel than conventional engine cars. Yesterday the company said it will lease five hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars to Los Angeles, the first such supply contract in the U.S.

The maker of Accord sedans and Odyssey minivans has a 20 percent share in closely held FuelMaker. The companies displayed the home-fueling system today at a natural-gas vehicle conference in Washington.

Honda's U.S. operations are based in Torrance, California. The company's American depositary receipts, which each represent half of an ordinary share, rose 32 cents to $19.37 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 3:47 p.m.