LOS ANGELES -

Revealed Thursday, another big award has been announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Taking home the title of the 2012 Green Car of the Year is the 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas.

The Green Car Journal presented Honda with the award in part because of the OEMs innovation —  having made the first factory-built compressed natural gas-powered car in America, editors of the journal shared.

The car was judged by the publication’s editors, “representing a diverse panel of environmental experts and automotive enthusiasts who annually select a single vehicle for its outstanding environmental performance,” officials noted.

Michael Accavitti, vice president of marketing at American Honda Motor Co., shared some insight into the winning car, noting, "The Civic Natural Gas is not only a great vehicle, it also demonstrates Honda’s commitment to provide a variety of alternatives to gasoline.

“The Civic Natural Gas and the all-new Fit EV that we introduced yesterday at the Los Angeles Auto Show are the latest additions to a rapidly expanding family of alternative energy Honda vehicles aimed at cutting petroleum use and reducing our carbon footprint,” he continued, sharing what will be another new vehicle in the OEMs lineup.

Honda also talked about ongoing efforts to increase the convenience and popularity  of natural gas-powered vehicles.  

Honda is expanding its retail network of Civic Natural Gas retail outlets to 200 dealers in 36 states, the company shared.

Previously, retail sales of the natural gas-powered Civic had been limited to four states — California, New York, Utah and Oklahoma.

“The Civic Natural Gas engine produces almost zero smog-forming emissions and is the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Tier-II, Bin-2 and ILEV certification as of August 2010),” the company shared, highlighting the unit’s attributes.

The vehicle is also rather new, and just went on sale this past October.