Honda wants dealers to have natural gas fuel stations

Honda, the only automaker selling compressed natural gas-powered cars in the U.S., wants some of its dealers to also install fueling station pumps to sell CNG.

Honda has said it wants to double sales of its Civic natural gas sedans this year to 4,000, and greater CNG acceptance is going to require more public fueling stations, Steve Center, U.S. vice president for environmental business development, said in an interview.

Honda is negotiating with state regulators in California, the biggest U.S. market for CNG vehicles and the one with the most public fueling stations, seeking to have additional pumps placed at two or more Honda dealerships this year, Center said.

"If the dealer had a fueling station, it would really reduce some of that concern for the customer," Center said at Honda's U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif. "It's not our place to create infrastructure, but it's a chicken-and-egg situation, and we're going to have to nurse that egg along."

Honda's push to market its Indiana-built Civics powered by CNG -- a domestically sourced fuel that's cheaper than gasoline and has lower emissions -- comes as Detroit rivals Gerneral Motors and Chrysler announced this week that they will start selling bi-fuel pickups that run on CNG and gasoline.

Courtesy of USAToday