Toyota to launch hydrogen fuel-cell car in Japan

Toyota Motor's vision of a hydrogen future will begin with a seven million yen (HK$532,500) car.

That is the price of Toyota's new fuel-cell vehicle, the world's largest carmaker said yesterday. The Camry-sized car would go on sale to Japanese consumers before April, followed by debuts in the United States and Europe months later, it said.

The car represents the path Toyota will take towards zero emissions, choosing fuel cells over the plug-in electric technologies embraced by the likes of Tesla Motors. It will join Hyundai Motor in facing the challenge of making such vehicles affordable and easier to use given the lack of refuelling infrastructure.

"If there are no charging stations and generous subsidies that lower the transaction price, what's the point in buying one?" said Koji Endo, an analyst at Advanced Research Japan. "The actual transaction price matters more than the sticker price, so sales will depend on how much they can get in subsidies."

Toyota was in talks with the Japanese government and governments in other countries on subsidising the car, Toyota executive vice-president Mitsuhisa Kato said yesterday.

Toyota developed a fuel-cell car in 1996, a year before its Prius made its debut in Japan. It has since used the hybrid technology in the Prius by swapping the petrol engine with a fuel-cell stack. Hyundai began offering a hydrogen-powered Tucson crossover in California this month.