Honda FCX Clarity Hydrogen Car Production Starts

Film producer Ron Yerxa will take delivery of the first FCX Clarity in July. The remaining four early adopters for Honda's next-generation fuel cell vehicle are author and actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest; business owner and car enthusiast Jim Salomon; actress Laura Harris; and Jon Spallino, already the world's first retail fuel cell vehicle customer, who has been leasing the current generation FCX since 2005. Yerxa, Harris and Spallino attended the event in Japan.

To provide its customers with sales and service support and as a critical step in advancing fuel cell vehicles in the real world, American Honda announced the establishment of the first network of dealers to facilitate the sales and service of fuel cell vehicles in the state of California.

John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda said that this is an important day in the history of fuel cell vehicle technology and a monumental step closer to the day when fuel cell cars will be part of the mainstream. "Our customers and dealers share in our vision for a cleaner and more sustainable transportation future, and share in our challenge to embrace a new generation of automotive technology that we think will carry the auto industry and its customers into the future."

The five customers announced today were among the very first people to share with Honda their passion for the environment and interest in the FCX Clarity. The initial criteria for fuel cell vehicle ownership, including proximity to hydrogen refueling stations, driving patterns and vehicle needs, all played a part in Honda's customer selection process.

Ron Yerxa, a film producer and partner at Bona Fide Productions, is a long-time car enthusiast and advocate for the environment. Yerxa first learned of the FCX Concept vehicle from a car magazine.

Jon Spallino, partner and Chief Financial Officer of an Irvine, California-based engineering and construction firm and the world's first retail customer of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle, is excited to trade in his first-generation FCX for the all-new FCX Clarity.

Actress and children's book author Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, filmmaker Christopher Guest have owned other alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles, and they continue to seek out ways to live and advocate a greener lifestyle.

Jim Salomon, a business owner and car enthusiast will be American Honda's first retail customer to regularly refuel at the recently renovated Irvine hydrogen refueling station.

Actress and green advocate Laura Harris learned about the FCX Clarity from a friend and test drove a prototype car at the Los Angeles auto show in November 2007.

Honda previously announced plans to deliver about 200 FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles in the U.S. and Japan to customers in the first three years of production, with leases beginning in July. The lease program marks the world's first large-scale retail initiative for fuel cell vehicle technology.

The FCX Clarity is a hydrogen powered fuel cell-powered vehicle. Propelled by an electric motor that runs on electricity generated in the fuel cell, the vehicle's only emission is water, and its fuel efficiency is three times that of a modern gasoline-powered automobile. Based on the entirely-new Honda V Flow fuel cell platform, and powered by a highly compact, efficient and powerful new Honda V Flow fuel cell stack, the FCX Clarity marks the significant progress Honda continues to make in advancing the real-world performance and appeal of the fuel cell car. The car has a driving range up to 280 miles.

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