Honda Motor Co. will begin sales of a ¥7.66 million hydrogen-powered sedan in March, a car that has a greater range and roomier interior than Toyota Motor Corp.'s Mirai.
Honda initially aims to sell 200 units annually of the car, called Clarity Fuel Cell, with government agencies and corporate fleets booking the first year's production run, Kiyoshi Shimizu, the car's chief engineer, said in an interview before the unveiling of the model at the Tokyo Motor Show on Wednesday.
Both the Clarity and Toyota's Mirai, which starts from ¥7.24 million in Japan, will benefit from subsidies of as much as ¥3 million being offered to buyers of fuel cell vehicles. Promoting a "hydrogen-based society" is part of a broader drive by the government to reduce a reliance on imported oil and provide an alternative energy source to nuclear power, which has faced public resistance after natural disasters crippled the Fukushima plant in 2011.