Hyundai bet a retail hydrogen SUV on infrastructure that never came

Hyundai launched the Nexo, a hydrogen fuel-cell SUV, in 2018 and sold it to ordinary car buyers — betting that retail hydrogen cars and a refuelling network would grow together.

The network never came. Outside a few regions, hydrogen stations stayed rare and often unreliable, so a car that promised zero-emission driving was one most buyers could not actually refuel.

Global sales tell the story: the Nexo peaked at 10,527 units in 2022, then collapsed 57% to 4,552 in 2023 and a further 39% to 2,774 in 2024. In its main export market, the US, it sold just 93 units in 2024; in Europe, 11.

The first-generation Nexo was a real, finished product that depended on an infrastructure Hyundai did not control — and the annual sales numbers show the bet shrinking every year toward a stranded niche.