Jill

Automakers work to make hydrogen a sustainable energy source.

On the front page of its Business of Green section, the New York Times (9/24, SPG1, Mouawad) reports, "On a strip of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, a futuristic experiment posing as an ordinary fuel station may be bringing the world one step closer to the hydrogen age." The Shell station "has conventional gasoline pumps as well as an odd-looking nozzle with bright blue 'hydrogen' labels. ... Faced with the perils of global warming and soaring prices, automakers and oil" firms "have been working together" to make hydrogen sustainable source of energy. "Their answer is to introduce both cars and new fuel stations, clustering them in urban centers like Los Angeles, Berlin, and Tokyo." And "this strategy" includes "Honda's decision to lease about 200 of its newly developed FCX Clarity cars over the next three years to selected customers in Southern California, who will be able to fill them up at the new Shell station and others." The vehicle "uses a fuel cell to power an electric motor; the cars are being leased for $600 a month, a fraction of what they would cost to buy." The Times notes, "Other carmakers, including Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, and Daimler, are working on prototypes."

Flexible plants give Honda strategic advantage over rivals.

On the front of its Marketplace section, the Wall Street Journal (9/23, B1, Linebaugh) reported that flexible plants are "considered quite a feat" in the automotive world. Operators at a Honda Motor Co. plant in East Liberty, Ohio, which makes Civic compacts, can easily halt the production line, letting workers sweep "in to install new hand-like parts on the giant gray robots that weld steel into the cars' frames." After five minutes the line is "back to life, and the robots [start] zapping together a longer, taller vehicle, the CR-V crossover." While in other manufacturers' factories, the process of "switching from one model to a completely different one still can take weeks and millions of dollars," the Journal noted, "the manufacturing dexterity of Honda's plants...is emerging as a key strategic advantage for the company." When gasoline prices are "volatile," the automaker "can adjust production to inventory levels faster than its competitors." For instance, "earlier this year, gasoline prices reached $4 a gallon," and Honda "slowed production of its Ridgeline pickup truck at its Canada plant and increased output of better-selling vehicles." Furthermore, "to respond to changes in economic conditions," the manufacturer "is able to shuffle production among different plants as well as make different models in one plant."