AFP - 54 minutes ago
TAKANEZAWA, Japan (AFP) - - Honda Motor on Monday began
producing a next-generation fuel cell vehicle that it hopes will
propel zero-emission cars running on hydrogen closer to the
mainstream.
Japanese car makers are in a race to produce fuel-efficient,
environmentally friendly vehicles amid soaring prices at the pump,
spreading their bets on an array of technology including hybrid,
electric and fuel cell cars.
Honda said it would set up the first network of sales dealers in
the United States for fuel cell vehicles.
Honda plans to deliver about 200 FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicles
on lease in the US and Japan in the first three years of
production.
The Japanese car maker already has 35 previous generation fuel
cell vehicles on lease contracts, mostly with Japanese and US
public institutions. It hopes the new version will have more
widespread appeal.
"With the new model, we are shifting our focus to individual
customers. This will be a real stepping stone to the consumer
market," said a Honda spokesman.
Fuel cell vehicles belch out none of the greenhouse gases blamed
for global warming, but their high cost and a lack of hydrogen
refuelling stations pose obstacles to mainstream use.
Honda said the new FCX Clarity had a fuel efficiency three times
that of modern petrol-powered cars. The four-passenger sedan also
has a driving range 30 percent higher than its predecessor.
It is producing the cars at what it describes as "the world's
first dedicated fuel cell vehicle manufacturing facility" in this
town in Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo.
The first five FCX Clarity cars will be delivered to celebrities
including film producer Ron Yerxa and actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
"It's an especially significant day for American Honda as we
plant firm footsteps toward the mainstreaming of fuel cell cars,"
Honda executive John Mendel said at a ceremony to mark the start of
production.
