Honda says fuel-cell cars can be mass-produced by 2018

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese carmaker Honda believes it can mass-produce environmentally friendly fuel-cell cars by 2018.

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s third biggest vehicle maker, plans to begin leasing a pricy new hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car in Japan and the United States in 2008.

“By evolving a next model based on this, I think the level of technology will become very close to that of mass-produced ordinary vehicles within 10 years or so,” Honda president Takeo Fukui said in an interview with Kyodo News on Friday.

“In 2018, I believe the development (of a fuel-cell car) will have been very advanced,” he said. “It will become a real possibility to a large degree.”

AFP