Hyundai begins South Korean sales of its Nexo fuel cell vehicle
The automaker launched the Nexo in its home market after a successful preorder period.
When we drove the Hyundai Nexo from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for CES in January, we were impressed by how complete it felt as a vehicle, despite being labeled a prototype. It turns out we were more right than we thought because the Nexo went on sale today in Hyundai's home market of South Korea.
Hyundai received more than 1,000 preorders for the Nexo, all of which were placed in the period from March 19 to March 26, with more than 700 being placed on the first day. The Nexo will start at 68,900,000 South Korean won (KRW), which works out to around $64,075 at the present exchange rates for the Modern trim and range up to 72,200,000 KRW (around $67,150) for the Premium trim. These prices could drop to as little as 33,900,000 KRW (or about $31,600) after government subsidies.
"We are witnessing a historic day as fuel cell technology is being commercialized in large quantities. With this positive beginning, we will continue our efforts in overseas markets to support fostering the newly developing fuel cell vehicle market," said Byung Kwon Rhim, executive vice president of the Global Operations Division for Hyundai Motor Company.
Two of the larger impediments to Hyundai putting the Nexo on sale in the US are the relative lack of a fully established hydrogen network outside of places like Southern California and the wild fluctuations in the price of hydrogen. Still, we hope to see the Nexo in US dealerships at some point soon.
