Honda Offers New Civic Natural Gas Vehicle Customers a $3,000 Fuel Card, Is It Worth a Look?

With gasoline prices creeping up again to as high as an average of $4.67 a gallon (€1.23 a liter) in California on Tuesday, according to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report, Honda thought it would be a good idea to launch a new promotion for its natural gas-powered Civic.

The Japanese carmaker said that it will offer customers purchasing a new 2012 Civic Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) at participating dealers from now until January 2, 2013, a debit card pre-loaded with $3,000 worth of fuel.

As always, there's some small print including that the card can only be used at Clean Energy CNG fueling stations around the country to purchase fuel. There are approximately 150 Clean Energy filling stations in the U.S., 40 of which are located inside California.

According to the most recent Department of Energy, Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price report on fuel prices, the nation-wide average price of natural gas fuel for vehicles in July was $2.05 per equivalent gasoline gallon.

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Honda to Produce New Civic Type R and Wagon in the UK, Next Jazz will be Imported to Europe

At a press conference during the 2012 Paris Motor Show last week, Honda Motor Europe's President, Manabu Nishimae, announced the development and market introduction of two new Civic models, the performance Type R and the practical and roomier Wagon (estate).

Now, the Japanese automaker has confirmed that both of these two new derivatives of its compact model will be manufactured at the company's UK plant in Swindon, which also uniquely produces the Civic five-door hatchback that is then exported throughout Europe and globally.

The VW Golf GTI-rivaling Civic Type R hot hatch is scheduled for production in 2015 while the Wagon, seen here in a teaser picture, will make its global debut as a thinly disguised concept most likely at the Geneva Salon in March or the Frankfurt Motor Show in September of 2013.

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Honda Teases New Civic Station Wagon and Shows New Civic 1.6L Diesel in Paris

Honda appears to be full of surprises these days. Just last week, the Japanese automaker's CEO confirmed the development of several cars including a Civic Type R hot hatch for Europe, a new Jazz / Fit supermini that will also spawn an SUV derivative, and a 'sporty' roadster.

Today, Honda's European President Manabu Nishimae revealed plans to add a new model to the carmaker's range during his Paris Motor Show press conference.

The vehicle announced today is a new derivative of Honda's European Civic in the form of a station wagon model. Honda went one step further and released a teaser image of the pre-production concept that will be shown next year, most likely at the Geneva Salon in March or the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

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Breaking: Honda Confirms New Civic Type R, Jazz / Fit Based Small SUV and Sports Roadster

There's a whole lot of news - but unfortunately, no pictures, coming out today from Honda's headquarters in Japan where the company's CEO Takanobu Ito outlined the product, technology and business developments through 2015.

We are going to start with the new Honda Civic Type R sports hatchback based on the European market model that is currently undergoing development for an introduction in 2015.

Honda said that this model is designed specifically for the European market, though we could see it being exported to Japan at some point. More importantly, the Japanese carmaker's CEO stated that the Type R is being developed "with the goal of becoming the fastest front-wheel-drive vehicle on the Nürburgring race course".

On a more global note, Ito said that Honda will roll out an all-new replacement for the Fit, also known as the Jazz in Europe, in 2013. Within two years after the initial market presentation, the Japanese automaker will launch a small SUV model based on the underpinnings of the new Fit/Jazz as well as a replacement for the related City small sedan.

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Honda Presents New Limited Edition Civic Ti with Cosmetic Upgrades in the UK

A little over a year after releasing a limited run of the previous generation Civic Ti in Britain, Honda has applied the "Ti" treatment to the new iteration of its five-door compact hatchback.

Said to be inspired by Honda's British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) Civic, the Ti is based on the 1.8-liter i-VTEC SE petrol model adding cosmetic enhancements such as 17-inch "Le Mans" alloy rims and color-coded wheel arches on the outside and leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearknob, plus Bluetooth connectivity on the inside, but no chassis or engine modifications.

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Honda to Debut New 1.6-liter Diesel-Powered Civic Hatchback in Paris

After making the announcement on the development of a new 1.6-liter turbocharged diesel engine at the Geneva Salon, Honda is now ready to show its smaller displacement oil burner on the latest Civic hatchback.

The 1.6-liter i-DTEC is the first engine in Europe to feature Honda's Earth Dreams Technology series (in North America, the automaker introduced the series with the new Accord's 2.4-liter petrol unit).

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