Toyota’s First Hydrogen Car to Cost $50,000

Toyota has said the company is aiming for a $50,000 price point for the first hydrogen-powered car.

Toyota has cut the cost of producing fuel-cell vehicles by roughly 90 percent in the last five years and as a result, is hoping to sell its first retail hydrogen automobile for $50,000.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Toyota’s managing director for advanced autos, Yoshihiko Masuda, said that the car maker had cut production costs to about one-tenth of earlier estimates that ran as high as $1 million a car. However, Masuda said Toyota would need to reduce current expenses by about half before starting retail sales.

“Our target is, we don’t lose money with introduction of the vehicle,” Masuda said. “Production cost should be covered within the price of the vehicle.”

Expected to arrive in 2015, the first model will be a sedan with the same driving range as a car that runs on gasoline but with “some extra cost.” General Motors, Honda, Daimler AG and Hyundai have all said they too will launch hydrogen cars in 2015, though price estimates for their vehicles have not been released.

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