June 16, 2015—On Monday, Honda announced that it will no longer make any hybrid or compressed natural gas versions of its Honda Civic, according to a report by USA Today.
Honda also said that it will put the plug-in version of the Honda Accord on hold, and plans on replacing it with a new plug-in hybrid vehicle.
For years Honda was the most prominent automaker offering a CNG-capable car, so the announcement comes as a shock. The problem was that it is difficult to find buyers when there are relatively few commercial stations for refueling.
For years the automaker tried to create a demand for compressed natural gas vehicles but it has decided that the market will not become mainstream anytime soon.
"We gave it a long run, and have tried and tried and tried. But, that market outside of taxi cabs, commercial vehicles … is not experiencing the uptick we expected." said John Mendel, Honda executive vice president, according to USA Today.
Honda plans to introduce a mainstream hydrogen fuel cell vehicle along with a new plug-in hybrid vehicle and new battery electric vehicle over the next few years. The company did not provide specific dates or names for the vehicles but it did say that the new fuel cell vehicle will come out sometime in 2016 and that all three vehicles will have new model names.
