Honda Highlights Natural Gas Civic

Honda Motor Co., aiming to expand its range of low-pollution autos in the United States, is studying ways to boost sales of natural-gas-powered Civics to capitalize on consumer interest in a gasoline alternative.

The company sells only about 1,000 Ohio-built Civic GX sedans a year in California and other states with natural-gas fuel stations open to the public. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rates the GX as the cleanest internal-combustion engine auto ever tested, and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy this month named the model ''America's greenest car.''

Demand for the vehicles is still low because buyers don't see a big enough advantage over gasoline-fueled cars, said Don Hillebrand, director of Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research in Argonne, Illinois.