Sales of natural gas vehicles evaporate

Last summer, with gasoline prices in the ionosphere, interest in cars that ran on compressed natural gas (instead of the liquid stuff) surged. When oil prices collapsed ... not so much.

Among the victims of the short-lived natural gas hype are car sales professionals like Alex Tissot, who, as general manager of Colonial Honda in Glendale, ordered up a mess of natural gas-powered Honda Civic GX sedans last summer, only to find them impossible to sell as the price of fuel dropped below the $2.50 mark.

He and others are victims of a sales problem described in today's paper: Crashing demand for alternative powertrain vehicles as gas prices decline.

At the height of the gasoline crisis, ordering up 10 natural gas cars seemed like a great idea. After all, when the average price of a gallon of unleaded is $4.11, buying a vehicle that runs on compressed methane at the equivalent per-gallon price of about $2.20 -- and spewing out fewer contaminants while you're at it -- makes a lot of sense.

Natural gas mania swept the nation. Scarcely 10 days after gas hit that high water mark on July 7, then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-ll) introduced legislation requiring U.S. automakers to make 10% of their fleets run on natural gas within a decade.

As the maker of the only natural-gas-powered passenger car available to consumers, Honda Motor Co. smelled a market opportunity big enough to drive, well, a compact sedan through....

L.A. Auto Show: Toyota's gassy hybrid concept

When it comes to picking the Fuel of the Future, Toyota likes to spread its bets around.

Hence the debut this week at the L.A. Auto Show of the Japanese automaker's CNG hybrid Camry concept, which Toyota believes is the first operating example anywhere of a hybrid car with an internal-combustion engine powered by compressed natural gas instead of gasoline.

The concept vehicle marks Toyota's only current entry in the natural-gas field (the automaker offered a non-hybrid CNG Camry back in 2000, with limited results). Rival Honda has scooped up a boatload of eco-friendly PR with its Civic GX, which runs solely on natural gas.

But lest anyone conclude that Toyota is about to make a serious play for natural-gas fans, it should be noted that the silvery blue vehicle on display at the convention center is the only example in the world -– and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.