Honda says that by 2015, the company will have a minimum of four very different gasoline/electric hybrid cars on-sale in the US and around the globe. These will include a hybrid version of the Fit, a sporty hybrid modeled on the CR-Z concept we saw at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, the company's existing Civic hybrid and an all-new Toyota Prius-fighter slated for a 2009 debut. (Photo Above -- Honda's robot Asimo appears above the FCX Clarity at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show).
More on those four later; Honda's most intriguing news this week is their announcement that production versions of their FCX Clarity hydrogen-fueled fuel-cell EV will soon be in the hands of about 200 families, who will sign three-year leases for each of the cars at about $600 a month. (Photo --- Honda said this week that their CR-Z concept, shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007, will be one of the vehicles the company will sell as a gasoline/electric hybrid).
But first, as they, this: Most important for consumers around the world, Honda (and Toyota and 
Nissan) continue to put their money where their mouth is; American car-buyers still cannot buy very high-mileage cars with cutting-edge technologies from one of the Detroit Three. As it was with overall vehicle quality through the '80s and '90s and in many cases right up until today, Asian car-makers and the Japanese in particular seem so far ahead of the curve when it comes to gas/electric hybrids and hydrogen-fueled fuel cell EVs which produce virtually no emissions, that the Detroit Three seem in danger of being left out in the cold.
European car-makers including Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz will be marketing diesel-powered cars and trucks in the US later this year which meet the nation's strictest mileage and emissions standards. The Detroit Three lag well behind of that bell curve, too. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Mazda have all been experimenting, very publicly, with using hydrogen as a fuel for internal combustion engines. (Photo --- GM's Equinox hydrogen-fueled fuel cell crossover; the company says about 60 of them will be available for leasing later this year).
When compared with Chrysler and Ford, General Motors is clearly, and by far, the US' leader in 
high-tech, high-mileage, low-emissions cars and trucks. Their development of the mileage-improving Dual-Mode Hybrid Transmission for large trucks and SUVs, the Volt passenger car which uses a small gasoline-fueled "generator" to keep on-board battery packs recharged and allow a 600-mile near all-EV range, and the Equinox hydrogen-powered fuel cell small SUV are all note-worthy newsmakers. The General says that some Equinox test vehicles will "hit the road" with specially-selected families in America within the next year, similar to the program Honda has announced for their FCX Clarity (more below). But talking about developing the vehicles necessary for the 21st century and beyond and actually building and selling them to the public are two very different things.
Honda says their plans call for the company to deliver about 200 of their FCX Clarity (Fuel Cell eXperimental) hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles to Japanese and American customers in its first three years of production, with leases beginning this July. The program marks the world's first large-scale retail initiative for fuel cell vehicle technology, and Honda has begun the process of identifying customers from a group of over 50,000 drivers who have expressed interest in the FCX Clarity on the company's website. (Photo --- A new dual-mode transmission is one of the components which make the large GMC/Chevy SUVs "Green Cars of the Year;" the system almost doubles highway mileage).
Honda will announce its first customers when the first FCX Clarity rolls off the production line at a ceremony on June 16, 2008 in Japan, where Honda will also showcase the world's first dedicated fuel cell vehicle production facility.
FCX Clarity is a next-generation, hydrogen-fueled fuel cell vehicle. Propelled by an electric motor that runs on electricity generated in the fuel cell, its only emission is water, and its fuel efficiency is three times that of a modern gasoline-powered automobile.
The FCX Clarity's multi-year launch began in October 2005, where we witnessed the unveiling of the next-generation FCX Concept vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show. This was followed in November, 2007 with the debut of the FCX Clarity much-closer-to-production model not in Japan, which was expected, but at the Los Angeles Auto Show. We were there, too, when Honda announced plans to begin leasing vehicles to customers in the US.
For more analysis, perspective, information and photos of Honda's four new hybrids and FCX Clarity fuel cell sedan, click below.
(Photo --- Also at the Los Angeles Auto Show, where FCX Clarity made big news, Korean car-maker Kia's display touted new, clean diesel technologies for passenger cars and trucks; similar to 'Bluetec' and 'TDI,' the clean diesel systems coming to the US this year on certain Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen models).
Honda is working to narrow the list of 50,000 interested drivers through a four-step "customer qualification process," including where the family lives, their completing a customer selection survey to determine how serious a family is about the car and project and customers will also be qualified based on driving patterns, vehicle needs, vehicle storage and financial criteria, and finally, an interview with American Honda. Our advice: Wear a nice, dark suit if you get called-in to "the final interview." And wear a tie, too.
Sounds a bit like those questionnaires we used to get in high school to determine what jobs we would be best-suited for when we graduated. And, yes, I should have been a doctor; then maybe I could afford to actually own some of the cars I've been witting about the past 35 years.
(Photo --- Chevy's Volt uses a small gasoline "generator" to keep its batteries fully-charged, and, says the company, can achieve 640 miles on less than 12 gallons of gasoline, about 53 mpg; Volt can be plugged-into a standard 110 volt home outlet and, after overnight charging, run its first 40 miles on e-power only).
Honda also released new information about four all-new gasoline/electric hybrids which the company is 
bringing to the US market between now and 2015.
Honda says their "fuel-sipping Fit will turn an even deeper shade of green with new plans to launch a gasoline-electric hybrid version of the popular subcompact in the early 2010s."
The hybrid Fit, announced in Tokyo on May 22, will be the fourth hybrid from Honda by 2015, as Honda feverishly chases rival Toyota in the race to create, build, market, sell and service high-mileage, low-emissions vehicles in their home market and around the world.
The Prius-fighter will be followed by a sporty hybrid and a redesigned Civic hybrid. Honda thinks the price difference between, for instance, the hybrid Fit and regular Fit needs to be less than 200,000 yen (USD $2,000) in order for the hybrid to win customers. The Fit should be released by 2015.
With gas prices soaring and showing no signs of ever coming down, even with a $2,000 premium on the Fit hybrid over the standard car, which itself is a very high-mileage unit, hybrid version buyers can quickly make-up their extra investment more quickly than even in the recent past. (Photo --- Toyota has already sold over 1,000,000 Prius gasoline/electric hybrids worldwide).
Honda's "affordable" hybrid due in early 2009 is seen as Honda's best challenge the Prius. 
In addition to weight reduction, a significant cost reduction in Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) components will result, the company says, in the most affordable hybrid vehicle to date. This dedicated hybrid vehicle will be offered as a 5-door hatchback with seating for five passengers and will employ an exterior design concept that evokes the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle. Along with the Civic Hybrid, the new vehicle will be produced at an expanded IMA production line at Honda's Suzuka factory (yes, right next door to the famed F1 race track; Honda owns that track, by the way; they also own the Twin Ring Motegi race track, located near their gigantic Tochigi R&D facility) in Japan.
Taking advantage of reductions in the size of components, the battery and the internal processing unit will be positioned below the rear cargo area, allowing the hatchback design to provide adequate cargo space to meet the needs of a family. Additionally, various technologies, including a function to assist more fuel efficient driving, are being installed to achieve a further improvement of practical fuel efficiency. With an affordable price, the new hybrid vehicle might represent, Honda hopes buyers will agree, the best value in its (Prius-dominated) segment.
To prepare for all the ramped-up production of hybrids, Honda will add a new motor production line at its Suzuka factory by year's end. The addition will boost annual capacity to 250,000 motors, up from 70,000 motors today. (Photo --- Honda's "Home Energy Station," seen here in concept form, will, the company says, separate hydrogen from the natural gas which flows into almost every building in the country; the company says fuel cell vehicle owners will then have their own hydrogen supply with which to power the family's fuel cell cars and trucks; what a concept, eh?).
Okay, now my own Honda hybrid story: Several years ago, while visiting, with a small group of US motor journalists, Honda's Research and Development Center in Tochigi, about 70 miles no
rth of Tokyo, I got my first look at gas/electric hybrids ... But we didn't know that until an hour-or-so after the experience was over.
Following our group's witnessing Honda's robot, Asimo, walk down stairs for the first time, and that successful exhibition had the gathered Honda officials and engineers ecstatic (or as ecstatic as Japanese executives and engineers can ever get), we took a short minivan ride on the property ... There are at least 100s of acres, or hectares as they call them in Japan, and the R&D facilities housed 5,000 engineers, all under 40 years of age. And we absolutely do mean "housed". When practically every employee is an unmarried male under 40, the company can provide barracks-like housing and "mess halls" to keep the workers fed and happy; many Japanese companies do this, not just those in the auto field. (Photo --- Honda's Fit, pictured here at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, is already a fuel stingy car, but nonetheless will get the "hybrid treatment;" Honda officials say gas prices are now so high in the US that buyers who opt for hybrids will make back whatever premium they paid for the car much sooner).
We were driven to part of the development's massive test track area, which includes driving areas simulating every type of road surface found worldwide, from Alaskan tundra (forgive me for the Toyota-based joke) to Paris-Dakar red dust dirt, to California freeway, German Autobahn, European cobblestones and everything in-between. Not to mention the de riguer skid pad, highly-banked high-speed oval and anything else you might find on or off road on this planet. On 50' stands all around the test track (and on the roofs of the R&D buildings) were two-man teams with binoculars and radios, eying the sky for helicopters, planes, parachutists and even powered hang-gliders, all of which have been used in "industrial espionage" for and against every one of the nation's car-makers. A signal light and buzzer in each vehicle using the test tracks would, if they showed and sounded their warnings, be warning that spies might be in our midst, in which case we were instructed to, as quickly as possible, pull our vehicle into one of the tents and stay there until we heard different.
There were a few Honda models waiting for us to get into them and drive. Even I could do that! (Photo --- Honda's PUYO concept at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show ... Scary, huh?).
Unexpectedly, each car we drove came equipped with one non-English speaking Japanese Honda
employee in the passenger seat (the left-hand seat, in this case). We were not allowed to stop anywhere along the track; the instrument panel was dark. Did I mention we were not allowed to look under the hood, and the hood release handle in the cars were removed? Long story short: We were driving the first Honda gas/electric hybrid prototypes. A big moment. After the drive, about 20 minutes' worth, we lunched with Honda President Nobuhiko Kawamoto (who was Honda's former F1 chief, when Honda was so very successful in that sport).
So we then knew for-certain, over a decade ago, that gas/electric hybrid vehicles of all types were not only technically feasible, but they were also, definitely, coming to America and again ... beating the Detroit Three to the punch.
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