Honda Announces Pricing of Natural Gas-Powered 2006 Civic GX

Owners Can Benefit From Tax Incentives, Up to 65 Percent Lower Fuel Costs With Optional 'Phill' Home Refueling Appliance

TORRANCE, Calif., May 16 -- American Honda Motor Co., Inc., today announced the pricing of the completely redesigned 2006 Honda Civic GX. The 2006 Civic GX, which achieves an EPA estimated city/highway fuel economy of 28/39 miles per gasoline-gallon equivalent, goes on sale today with an MSRP of $24,440. Currently natural gas is approximately 30 percent less expensive than gasoline when purchased at a refueling station, and approximately 65 percent cheaper than gasoline when supplied by a Phill home refueling appliance.

2006 Civic GX owners will be eligible for a Federal tax credit of $4,000 for the car and up to $1,000 for the purchase and installation of 'Phill,' the convenient natural gas home refueling appliance. Both GX and Phill benefit from the federal tax credits enacted January 1, 2006, for clean alternative fuel vehicles and fueling infrastructure. Natural gas fuel is an ideal lower-cost alternative to gasoline and is primarily a domestically produced fuel with a price that has proven to track below that of petroleum fuels.

Based on the all-new, award-winning 2006 Civic, the ultra-clean Civic GX produces near zero emissions, makes owners eligible for significant tax credits, and can be refueled with a convenient home refueling appliance. The Civic GX is the only dedicated natural gas-powered passenger vehicle available to retail customers in the United States.

Proclaimed the "Cleanest internal combustion engine on Earth" by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the GX is the only vehicle certified by the EPA to meet both Federal Tier 2-Bin 2 and Inherently Low Emission Vehicle (ILEV) zero evaporative emission certification standards. GX meets these strict emission standards, as natural gas is inherently a clean burning fuel.

Equipped standard with a 5-speed automatic transmission, the 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder engine delivers 113 horsepower and 109 ft-lbs of torque, both an increase of more than 10 percent versus the previous model. The Civic GX offers the same standard safety features that have earned Civic the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's "Top Safety Pick -- Gold" Award. Standard safety features include dual front airbags, side curtain airbags, driver's side impact airbag, front passenger's side impact airbag, ABS and Honda's Advanced Compatibility Engineering Body structure (TM) (ACE (TM)).

Phill -- the home refueling appliance manufactured by FuelMaker Corporation -- provides Civic GX owners a convenient and affordable method of refueling at home. Phill can be mounted to a garage wall, either indoors or outdoors, and allows the GX to refuel overnight directly from a homeowner's existing natural gas supply line.

Natural gas-powered vehicles are part of Honda's energy strategy to offer the best available technology for the reduction of air pollution and petroleum dependence and serves as an enabling technology for hydrogen fuel cell cars in the future. The 2006 Civic GX will be assembled in East Liberty, Ohio. Destination and handling charges for all 2006 Honda vehicles are $550.

For more information or downloadable high-resolution images of the hybrid models and other Honda vehicles, please visit www.hondanews.com. Consumer information is available at www.hondacars.com. Additional resources for items mentioned in this release include www.fuelmaker.com.

Natural Gas Links

American Gas Association
http://www.aga.org/

California Energy Commission
http://www.energy.ca.gov/

Canadian Gas Association
http://www.cga.ca/

Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance
http://www.ngvcanada.org/

CSA International
http://www.csa-international.org/

Clean Cities
http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities

Honda GX
http://www.civicgx.com

International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles
http://www.iangv.org/

Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition
http://www.ngvc.org/

U.S. Alternative Fuels Data Centre
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc

U.S. Department of Energy
http://www.doe.gov/

U.S. Energy Information Natural Gas Administration
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/nat_frame.html

U.S EPA Fuel Economy Site
www.fueleconomy.gov