• The New York Times, Tuesday, June 17, 2008 10:30 AM

The first FCX Clarity rolled out to the applause of hundreds of Honda employees wearing white jump suits in a factory an hour north of Toyko Monday. The world's first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle that's intended for mass production looks like an ordinary family sedan, but presently costs more to build than a Ferrari. Among its first customers is the actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

Honda says the FCX Clarity can be filled easily at a pump, can drive 280 miles on a tank, and gets the equivalent of 74 miles a gallon of gas. It will make just 200 of the futuristic vehicles over the next three years, but says it eventually plans to increase production, especially as hydrogen filling stations became more common.

The technology has faced many hurdles, not the least of which has been the prohibitive cost of the fuel cells themselves. But the cost to produce each car should drop below $100,000 in less than a decade as production volumes increase, according to Honda president Takeo Fukui. "This is a must-have technology for the future of the earth," he says.

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