Courtesy of Mitsubishi i, Honda Loses Top Spot on Annual List of Green Cars February 7, 2012, 5:19 pm The 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas may have been named Green Car of the Year at the L.A. auto show in November, but the CNG-burner settled for second in Washington, where the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a lobby group, chose the Mitsubishi i as its greenest vehicle of the year. It was the first time a purely electric vehicle had topped the list in 12 years, and the first time in the last eight years that the CNG Civic was deprived the honor.