Honda will drop CNG vehicles to focus on hybrids, EVs - Automotive News
DETROIT -- Honda Motor Co. is phasing out efforts to develop natural-gas powered vehicles and will instead focus on hybrids and electric vehicles. The automaker is developing a next-generation, two-motor hybrid system that will appear in a new Accord Hybrid due by 2018, and will offer a redesigned hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle next year, John Mendel, executive vice president of American... A new plug-in hybrid, a new battery-electric car and a three-motor hybrid system also are in the works, Mendel said, without giving details. Honda is "developing an extensive new generation of electrified vehicles" that should yield significant sales, Mendel said. The fuel cell vehicle, battery-electric car and plug-in hybrids "will become a mainstream, volume pillar for the Honda brand," Mendel said. Honda will stop selling the natural-gas powered version of the Civic and the Civic Hybrid this year, a move that follows the withdrawal of the slow-selling Accord Plug-in Hybrid from the U. S. , Mendel said. Honda is dropping the Civic Hybrid in part because it expects the redesigned 2016 Civic to offer "a few ticks more" than 40 mpg, according to Mendel. Source: www.autonews.com
