Hyundai Motor sells 10,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

Hyundai Motor, which was the first in the world to mass produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, has sold more than 10,000 units in seven years.

Hyundai Motor said on Sunday that the company has sold 548 of its hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle Nexo in Korea and overseas last month, to record a cumulative number of 10,144 units sold based on factory shipment. The automaker has sold 7,740 units in Korea and 2,404 of its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles overseas thus far.

The South Korean automaker completed mass production facilities for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2013 for the first time in the world, and started selling its first-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Tucson. However, only 914 units of the Tucson fuel cell vehicle were sold due to lack of hydrogen refueling infrastructure and a high price of the car. The situation shifted, however, following the introduction of Nexo, Hyundai’s second-generation fuel cell vehicle, in 2018. A total of 966 units of the vehicle were sold in the first year, and the sales figure soared to 4,987 last year. A total of 3,292 units of the car were sold in the first half of this year. Hyundai Motor expects the Nexo will exceed the 10,000 mark in cumulative sales next month. The car will be the second in the world after Mirai, Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, surpassed the 10,000 mark in cumulative sales last year.

The Nexo has been successful in sales thanks in large part to the government’s policy to increase supply of eco-friendly vehicles. The Nexo is priced at around 70 million won per unit, but the price declines to about half that price with subsidies from the central and local governments. Hydrogen refueling stations have been constantly increasing in number across the country.


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com