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Today is Job 1 for the world's first series production fuel cell car as Honda executives and the first customers for its FCX Clarity looked on. Honda CEO Takeo Fukui and American Honda EVP John Mendel were also there to watch as the first production FCX Clarity was completed and driven off the line. Joining the Honda bosses were Ron Yerxa, Jon Spallino and Lauren Harris. Those three along with Jamie Lee Curtis, her husband Spinal Tap lead guitarist Christopher Guest and business owner Jim Salomon will be the first customers to take possession of their Claritys when they arrive in Southern California next month.

Honda put in a dedicated assembly line at its Tochigi New Model Center to produce the 200 Clarity units that are planned for delivery over the next couple of years. Currently Honda is only leasing the cars (for three years at $600/month) in areas where there is a already a dedicated supply of hydrogen and enough places to buy it. That means the Los Angeles area first, along with Japan. Three Los Angeles area Honda dealers have been named to provide service and support for the hydrogen fueled four passenger Accord sized sedan in case a cup holder or the car's very high-tech hydrogen fuel cell needs fixing. All we know is that these new FCX Clarity owners better have some big pockets for those oversized keys.


[Source: Honda]

The Honda FCX Clarity is hugely important because it represents an honest to goodness fuel-cell vehicle that is going to actually be built and sold in 2008. The significance of a vehicle that spits water out of its exhaust instead of carbon is lost on virtually nobody, and it looks like Honda will be the first out of the gate. Honda has created a clever commercial to show how important its new accomplishment is, and it involves a bunch of thugs shooting it out with water guns. It's good stuff, and you can view it by clicking the read link below.

[Source: YouTube]

The 2007 LA Auto Show has come and passed, and the show acted as a North American catch-up for all the world-wide unveilings from Frankfurt in September. We saw the production F430 Scuderia, the Reventon, the Up!, and many other vehicles that first caught the public eye in Germany two months earlier. LA had its share of world debuts, like the all-new Sequoia, the Nissan Murano, and the Lincoln MKS. We looked over all the world debuts and came up with a video of our top five new introductions of the 2007 LA Auto show. We tried to figure into our decision both industry significance and enthusiast impact. Click play on the video above to check out where the new vehicles ranked, and hit the jump to chime in with your list as well.