Mazda is planning to sell a vehicle in mass market quantities within 3 years that will be similar to the Premacy minivan introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show. We noted earlier their intention to lease hydrogen vehicles or something very similar to selected customers, but this is a step up.
What is the reasoning here? It could give them a major marketing advantage by claiming their precedence in hydrogen vehicles but there is insufficient infrastructure in place to support them except in very limited areas. These vehicles also have the capability of running on gasoline since they are hydrogen/gasoline/electric hybrids so it appears they will really be conventional hybrids with hydrogen fuel capability thrown in. These are not fuel cell vehicles, they use the hydrogen for internal combustion. Looks like the marketing folks are pushing this one.
On the other hand, as is well known, the hydrogen highway has the problem of what do you build first, cars that need hydrogen stations to travel any distance or a hydrogen highway of filling stations to fuel the cars? This could be an attempt by a manufacturer to build demand for the hydrogen stations.
via Bloomberg
