Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell will come with free fuel in US
The hydrogen-powered Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell has been in development for more than a decade and it will be launched in the US during the first quarter of 2014 with an unprecedented free fuel offer.
John Krafcik – Hyundai Motor America CEO – announced at the Los Angeles auto show that the ix35 Fuel Cell – which will be called the ‘Tucson’ in the US – will be available as a lease-only vehicle in southern California for a down payment of $2999 and a monthly cost of $499 over a span of 36 months.
The fuel will be included and for high-mileage drivers, this can be quite an enticing offer, but that’s not all. He continued to say that in case servicing will be required, a Hyundai dealer will pick up the car, provide a loaner vehicle, then return the car after service to the customer’s home or business at absolutely no extra charge whatsoever.
In terms of exclusively the American market, the Tucson Fuel Cell will also qualify for California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate of $2500, effectively meaning five of the monthly payments over the year will be taken care for by the state.
Only three dealers will start selling the model from March and it will expand to other areas as more hydrogen refueling stations come online.
Hyundai is playing it relatively safe with this policy having said that it will initially built only 1000 fuel cell ix35s through to 2016, because California is really the only US market for the vehicle.
The Korean-based manufacturer will obviously continue to support both battery-powered EVs as well as hydrogen fuel-cell powered ones but they are definitely leaning towards focusing on the latter.
The market for fuel-cell vehicles is getting a bit bigger in the near future with Toyota having revealed recently their fuel-cell contender, the FCV.
