Civic Natural Gas Named Green Car of the Year

The Civic Natural Gas has just been named the 2012 green car of the year at the LA Auto Show.

Michael Accavitti, of American Honda Motor Company, said:

“The Civic Natural Gas is not only a great vehicle, it also demonstrates Honda’s commitment to provide a variety of alternatives to gasoline.”

According to the AFP, the Civic Natural Gas is the only factory built CNG-powered car currently produced in America. Inhabitat reports that Civic is the cleanest internal combustion car certified by the EPS. Honda re-purposed a 1.8-liter 4-cylinder gas engine to burn natural gas. The Civic Natural Gas gets 31 miles per gallon.

It went on sale in October with a starting price of $26,155. The editors of Green Car Journal picked the Civic Natural Gas over the Volkswagen Passat TDI, the Mitsubishi i, the Toyota Prius V and the Ford Focus Electric. The Mitsubishi and the Ford are both all electric vehicles. The Toyota Prius is a gas-electric hybrid and the Volkswagen runs on diesel.

John O’Dell, senior editor at Edmunds.com, said that this year’s finalist show that the green car industry is growing and consumers are getting more options when choosing an eco-friendly car.

“(The finalist show that) the industry is finally getting to the point where there’s some consumer choice in green offerings. When you look at those vehicles, they run the gamut of fuel types, price range and vehicle types.”

Last year, the 2011 Chevy Volt was awarded the Green Car of the Year Award.

What do you think of the Honda Civic Natural Gas? Do you drive a green car?