The Honda Civic Hybrid is a hybrid powertrain version of the Honda Civic, first introduced in Japan near the end of 2001. It is the first hybrid vehicle to be certified as an Advanced Technology Partial Zero- Emissions Vehicle from California's Air Resources Board. The Civic Hybrid uses an Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system similar to Honda Insight. Early models from 2001 to 2005 used a 5-speed manual transmission, but models since then feature a continuously variable automatic transmission. The Civic Hybrid is only available as sedan, although a hatchback version has been shown as a... concept car. The Civic hybrid ranks as the second best selling electric hybrid car in the U.S. As of the end of January 2009, the total global sales of all Civic hybrid exceeded 255,000. The Civic hybrid, based on the seventh generation Civic, was first introduced to the Japanese market in December 2001. Honda claimed it was the most fuel efficient 5-passenger gasoline-powered production vehicle in the world at the time. It was introduced to the U.S. in spring 2002 as a 2003 model.
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