Washington PA Honda Dealer Starts Selling CNG Vehicles

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Here come the compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles! At least in western PA:

Washington Honda plans to become the first Honda dealership in Western Pennsylvania to sell Civic sedans that run on compressed natural gas.

"With Washington County being a hub for Marcellus shale gas, we see this as an opportunity," said Gary Flannery, general manager of the South Strabane dealership, part of the Washington Auto Mall.

Flannery plans to market the Civic Natural Gas as a fleet vehicle for government agencies, utilities and other businesses looking to save money and switch to a cleaner-burning fuel.

Compressed natural gas, or CNG, has been selling for about $1.85 per gallon equivalent, versus an average price of $3.92 this week for gasoline in Western Pennsylvania.

Two technicians from Washington Honda will be trained next month to work on the car, and two sales people will be briefed on its features, he said.

Since it debuted in 1989, Honda’s natural gas-powered Civic has been the only passenger car in the nation made to run on the fuel. Gasoline-powered vehicles can be converted to run on natural gas.

Formerly known as the Civic GX, the car was redesigned for 2012 and renamed the Civic Natural Gas because that’s what customers called it anyway, Honda spokesman Chuck Schifsky said. It costs $26,155, compared with $20,505 for a regular Civic, and Honda is on track to double sales this year to 2,000 vehicles as interest in using natural gas as a transportation fuel grows, he said.*

*Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Mar 31, 2012) – Local Honda dealership to sell ‘green’ gas-burning Civic

3 Comments

  1. Boy, Its about time that the car industry gets this ball rolling. With the Chevy Volt being an overpriced disappointment, these CNG vehicles will make much more sense. The conversion over to CNG  will be easier, technicians can be re- trained quickly about the conversions, Filling stations can also be up-fitted easily. Now, the government and our populace must get with the program. Hopefully, when Obama gets bounced out of office, the “New” Republican President can present incentive programs (for USA only) , House bills and real mandates to move the process along. The United States must separate from the world market, this will cause “Our” products to be cheaper to purchase here and also cause an exporting market so we once again can become “suppliers” instead of purchasers. Then we may actually show a profit. Imagine that!! Say goodbye to OPEC once and for all, get all our troops home safely.

  2. Wacoyaco,
     I hope you feel the same way about another invention related to the Volt. When it first came out it was very dangerous to be close to , caused numerous fires and had limited range. Some of the wealthy early  owners of this  product were so disappointed  and terrified with it they junked it . Many of the early start up companies trying to use this technology went bankrupt. ….Of course I’m talking about electricity in the 1880s…… Good thing people then didn’t give up so easily on early models.
      I’m also astounded by  a right winger like you supporting government incentives for adoption of new technology [ in this case CNG and LNG for transportation ] Funny that just came up for a vote in the transportation bill and Republicans had it removed. Is it because Obama supported it maybe ?

  3.  Exdent11, I’m open to any fueling/heating energy that is cost effective for everyone to use( Not just the privileged few that can” afford it) A Chevy Volt goes for around $30,000.  just like our discussion about Solar energy earlier its out of reach for most middle income people. I’m a common sense type of guy and a realist, vehicles can easily be built for LNG use at a reasonable cost to consumers. Same holds true for filling stations and heating conversions, they can be “easily” retrofitted at a reasonable cost. I make a decent income and can not afford the materials and to have a contractor outfit my home with Solar panels to save 50% of my electric bill. First of all its an eye sore having most of my roof covered to produce half of what I need at a ridiculous upfront expense. Second, the technology is just not there yet. Yes,its a great idea. Yes, it helps the environment.  But in reality its just not feasible for most of us( lower to middle income) to shell out thousands of dollars for basically little return. No need to reiterate your views, I know what your going to say and I just disagree with your math. The Chevy Volt is the same, great idea, it will be a huge step forward when they finally get it right, but again, Exdent11, the technology is just not there, its way overpriced and is basically a flop, and the populace didn’t buy it . MDN, just came out with an article about the Honda Civic that runs on LNG or CNG, the only problem I for-see is there are not enough filling stations (yet). The cost of the car is reasonable ( around $ 20,000), and the money that will be saved at the pump will be quite substantial. The wheel does not need to be reinvented for heads to turn,the few simple changes that we can make right here and right now will resonate big savings for us “poor” folk, and going back to reality again, when my wallet is not being severely pinched I personally feel better about everything.I don’t have to be a right winger to feel the pinch.I’m sure you being a left winger feel it too.Every time I fill up my truck ,( last fill up was $108.00) I curse OPEC, I curse Obama, I curse Exxon, Shell for bilking me. Guess what? so does every person in this country that is at a gas station filling up. I appreciate your dreams of the perfect world, with perfect air, where everyone has a home covered in Solar panels, and as you drive down the country roads you can see miles of wind mills( turbines, sorry). I’ll just stick to NG, thank you very much, its here, its cheap, its abundant,it burns clean, it will create thousands of jobs, get us off OPEC quicker. Shall I continue?you get the point.