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Car rental giant Hertz will begin offering compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle rentals to customers at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma in early May, serving as a pilot program for the company’s CNG airport rental activities.

Initial natural gas rentals will include two GMC Yukons and eight Honda Civics, the latter Green Car Journal’s 2012 Green Car of the Year.  All vehicles will include NeverLost GPS navigation to assist renters in mapping local CNG refueling stations. Oklahoma has significant CNG fueling infrastructure across the state with some 70 existing or planned public stations.

Hertz introduced CNG vehicles through Hertz On Demand at Oklahoma State University last year. It already rents CNG vehicles in Italy and the UK. In the U.S., the CNG rentals are part of the company’s growing Green Traveler Collection that includes natural gas, electric, and other fuel-efficient vehicles.

The expansion of energy-efficient and clean vehicles stems from the launch of Living Journey, Hertz's global sustainability strategy announced earlier this year. CNG vehicles are a good fit for this program since natural gas is a cleaner-burning fuel that emits up to 30 percent less carbon dioxide and 75 percent less carbon monoxide. CNG also costs significantly less than gasoline and is produced domestically.