Honda plans to make California its first U.S. market for selling fuel-cell cars to individuals, taking advantage of the state's plans for a hydrogen-fuel network, starting in 2008.

The company will start within two years by leasing a limited number of cars based on its new FCX prototype, U.S. sales chief John Mendel said in an interview yesterday at a test-drive of the FCX in Monterey, California. Marketing will gradually expand from California to other major U.S. markets, he said.

Yesterday, 20 auto journalists got to test the next-generation FCX concept car at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey. It was the first drive of the car by Honda outsiders on U.S. soil.

Honda expects its fuel-cell car to challenge Toyota Motor Corp.'s lead in automobiles that cut pollution and gasoline use, Mendel said. Toyota is the biggest seller of gasoline-electric autos, with models such as the Prius.

California is developing a Hydrogen Highway Network to serve fuel-cell vehicles, expanding the number of hydrogen stations from 23 now to more than 100 statewide in the next few years.

The new FCX sedan has a top speed of 100 miles an hour and can travel as far as 270 miles when fully fueled, 30 percent farther than the previous FCX. The fuel-cell stack is 40 percent smaller than in the previous version and increases the electrical output to 100 kilowatts from 86 kilowatts.

General Motors Corp. in September said it planned to build 100 fuel-cell vehicles for U.S. customers next year as part of a program to sell 1,000 such vehicles by 2010. But Honda appears poised to beat them to market.

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