LOS ANGELES – Imagine you’re a car company known for building fuel-efficient cars powered by some of the world’s cleanest engines. One that fights off the status quo by building a 300-horsepower flagship sedan with six rather than eight cylinders, one that has a hybrid fleet when most of the competition is just getting into the game.

That would make you the first-ever automaker to lease a fuel cell-powered vehicle to a private consumer. It would also make you Honda.

“Honda furthers its commitment to the continued advancement of this technology for the benefit of society,” said John Mendel, senior vice president of automotive operations for American Honda. “The ultimate goal is achieving large-scale commercialization of fuel cell vehicles.”

For now, Honda is focused on the Spallino family and their 2005 Honda FCX. To determine who would be the first leasee of a Honda FCX, company officials first looked at owners of the Honda Civic GX, a natural-gas powered version of that popular compact car. That search led to Redondo Beach, Calif., residents Jon and Sandy Spallino and their two kids. The family will lease a 2005 Honda FCX for two years; a $500 monthly lease payment will cover insurance and all maintenance costs.

Upon accepting the key to the family’s new FCX, Jon Spallino noted that he considers himself not so much an environmentalist, as “an individual who gives a damn,” someone who sees a danger in dependence on foreign oil, and the downside of oil selling at $60 per barrel.