Oklahoma will be getting natural gas-powered Honda Civic

Honda Civic GX

Much to the chagrin of buyers in many states, the Honda Civic GX is currently sold only in the States of California, New York, and Utah. The reason? Infrastructure. The GX is natural gas powered and therefore requires natural gas filling stations, or home filling stations. Oklahoma has now been added to the list of states in which the car will be available for consumer purchase; it had previously been available in Oklahoma to commercial fleets.

Honda has made their decision in light of Oklahoma being the second leading state in natural gas production and the incentives offered by the State of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma will be getting natural gas-powered Honda Civic

Honda Civic GX

Much to the chagrin of buyers in many states, the Honda Civic GX is currently sold only in the States of California, New York, and Utah. The reason? Infrastructure. The GX is natural gas powered and therefore requires natural gas filling stations, or home filling stations. Oklahoma has now been added to the list of states in which the car will be available for consumer purchase; it had previously been available in Oklahoma to commercial fleets.

Honda has made their decision in light of Oklahoma being the second leading state in natural gas production and the incentives offered by the State of Oklahoma.

Honda To Discontinue 4-Door Civic Type R

HONDA HAS today announced that it will discontinue production of the Japan-market four-door Civic Type R, killing any chance of the performance model joining its three-door sibling and the regular Civic sedan here in Australia.

While Honda has not revealed the specific reasons for the demise of the four-door Type R, the Japanese carmaker has also announced that it will launch a limited edition release of the three-door Civic Type R in the Japanese market.

Honda Stops Production Of Four-door Civic Type R

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd says it will end sales of the four-door Civic Type R, following an announcement from Honda Motor Co. Ltd Japan that it will discontinue production of the car.

Currently, Malaysia is the only country outside Japan to sell the four-door Civic Type R.

"After having evaluated the model based on environmental performance, which is the new method of calculating emissions in JC08 mode, as well as current market demands, we believe that the time has come for us to discontinue production of the 4-door Civic Type R," said the Managing Director and Chief Executive officer of Honda Malaysia, Toru Takahashi in a statement here today.

To date, Honda Malaysia has sold 234 units of four-door Civic Type R since August 2007.

Is Honda Considering A Hotter Hybrid Sports Coupe?

The 2011 Honda CR-Z hasn’t even hit U.S. showrooms, but rumors are already circulating about the automaker possibly crafting a larger, more powerful hybrid sports coupe.

Honda’s new CR-Z sports hybrid combines a small 1.5-liter gasoline engine and an electric motor to put out a total of 118 horsepower -- not too much for a sports car.

A Honda insider told Motor Trend, however, that a larger hybrid sports coupe is planned for the near future with CR-Z-crushing performance. Details of the powertrain are still iffy, but the source says a car was originally conceived to mate a V-6 with a hybrid system. Now, engineers are considering using a more efficient 2.5-liter I-4 instead of the six-banger. The V-6 system is still being considered for use in U.S.-spec minivans and SUVs.

Honda’s planned hybrid sports coupe is reported to be around the same size as the current Accord Coupe, providing seating for four. Although it will vastly outperform the CR-Z, the car will still be very efficient. One Honda engineer hinted that there are driver-selectable settings to aim for either performance of fuel economy.

Honda Settles Class-Action Suit Over Brakes

2008 Honda Accord EX-L V-6 sedan.

Honda has agreed to settle a class-action suit that claims the rear brakes in 750,000 late model Accords and Acura TSXs are wearing out more than twice as fast as they should.

The suit was filed in September, claiming that unreasonable wear was due to a defective design that caused “excessive force to be applied to the vehicle’s rear wheels.”

It covers 2008–9 Accords and 2009 Acura TSXs as well as a small number of 2010 models. The suit says the rear pads wear out in 15,000-20,000 miles when they should last at about 70,000 miles, that Honda has refused to provide repairs under the new-car warranty and failed to warn new buyers that the rear brakes would require such frequent repairs.

The suit attributes the problem to a new braking system that included four-wheel discs and an electronic brake distribution system that became standard on the 2008 Accord and 2009 TSX.