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Tuesday April 7, 2009
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Fuelmaker corporation, the Honda-owned company that manufactures the Phill home-based compressed natural gas fueling station for the automaker's Honda Civic GX sedan, has gone into bankruptcy, according to NGV Global.
The report said that the move raises questions about the viability of compressed natural gas vehicles in America, especially given that the GX was the only vehicle that consumers could buy. Dealers only sold the car to individuals in California and New York, though some other states allowed fleet purchases. Sales were low at just 800 to 1000 per year.
The car drove very similar to a regular Honda Civic GX, though the last version was down 31 hp compared to the gas-powered model. It also had a restricted range of about 175 miles on a tank, though it could be fueled overnight from any home's natural gas system using Phill. The Civic GX is also one of the only cars sold in the U.S. that's certified PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle); it essentially emits water vapor and little else.
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May 4, 2009 4:33 PM
Above story WAY overstates the relationship between Fuelmaker and Honda, a minority owner... Makes it sound like Honda closed the doors, it did not. Now that Fuelmaker is sold, honda can talk (bankrupcy court rules) and issued a release confirming its comittment to naturl gas and the GX. Seems maybe fuelmaker simply could not make a go of it financially. Now the new company can take a new path, hopefully a better one. Sounds like simple capitalism to me.