Honda Marks A Decade Of Environmental Leadership With Fifth Consecutive "Greenest Automaker" Award From Union Of Concerned Scientists

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Honda was recently named America's "Greenest Automaker" for the fifth consecutive time by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The award is earned by the company with the lowest combined score of its smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions (primarily CO2) in its U.S. automobile fleet.

Honda's efforts to improve fuel efficiency have resulted in a 1 mpg gain in the company's U.S. corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) for model year 2009, up 3.3% over the previous model year to 31.3 mpg, and 9.8% above the MY2009 industry average of 28.8 mpg, as determined by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Since MY2005, Honda's CAFE has increased 7.2%, outpacing the company's voluntary goal, established in May 2006, to achieve a 5% gain in CAFE over 2005 levels by 2010.

Honda also continues its leadership in the area of alternative-fuel vehicles. Retail sales of its natural gas-powered Civic GX Sedan were recently expanded to dealers in Oklahoma and Utah, in addition to California and New York. Honda's FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle, currently leased to a limited number of customers in Southern California, is arguably the world's most advanced zero-emissions automobile with zero tailpipe emissions and fuel efficiency three times that of a comparable, gasoline-powered automobile.

Additionally, in July 2010, the company announced plans to introduce a battery-electric commuter-sized vehicle and plug-in hybrid technology for mid-size and larger vehicles in the United States, both beginning in 2012. These market initiatives will be preceded by U.S. demonstration programs beginning in 2010 and continuing in 2011 with Stanford University, Google Inc., and the City of Torrance, Cali.

Honda is also developing its own infrastructure solutions to the alternative-fuel vehicle equation. To address the opportunity for zero-emissions commuting in a fuel cell electric vehicle, in January of this year Honda began operating a next-generation solar-powered hydrogen production and refueling station on its Los Angeles R&D campus. The station uses power derived from Honda-developed and manufactured thin-film solar cells to provide fuel for daily commuting in a carbon-free energy cycle.