Honda denies joint fuel-cell vehicle development with GM and BMW

Despite reports coming from Japanese media sources that we referred to yesterday, Honda is denying that it will jointly develop fuel-cell vehicles with GM and BMW. Forbes quoted a written statement from Honda PR dept. general manager Hiroshi Ohshima that basically says while the three companies are working together to develop standardized filling systems for liquid hydrogen, they are not jointly developing a fuel-cell vehicle itself. It seems any collaboration or sharing of technology will only concern the development of standardized filling systems and not technology related to fuel-cell powertrains, storage and the like. Regardless of  Honda downplaying this relationship, we wonder if the venture will actually produce the standard by which all fuel-cell vehicles in the future will be refilled. If so, we would expect more automakers to join the consortium and strengthen the legitimacy of any standards it produces.