Honda Fuel Cell Cars Head to Hollywood

Fuel cell vehicles made by Honda are now rolling off a production line in Japan and will be heading to eager customers in California come July, the auto maker said today. The car, the FCX Clarity, represents the latest move from a major car maker to make non-petroleum-powered cars mainstream. While Honda says it has a new, dedicated fuel cell vehicle assembly line, it only plans to make 200 of the vehicles over the next three years.

But the limiting factor isn’t really the production run so much as the largely non-existent hydrogen fuel infrastructure — there just aren’t a lot of fueling stations for these cars. The first few FCX customers were chosen, in part, because of their proximity to fueling stations along California’s hydrogen highway. Though surely it’s no coincidence that the first few pre-screened customers also happen to be Hollywood A-listers, like Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Harris, who will be able to add some Tinseltown glamor to the new vehicles.

While this puts Honda ahead in the fuel cell space, the automaker is still behind in other alternative fuel areas. Honda discontinued its flagship hybrid the Insight while Toyota’s Prius has taken off; meanwhile, the company has yet to announce plans to jump on the electric-powered bandwagon which GM and Nissan are now pursuing for 2010 debut.

Image courtesy of Honda.