Under the agreement signed with Agilauto, Crédit Agricole’s car sales and financing brand, H2 View understands, Hopium’s anticipated hydrogen-powered sedan will be offered to Agilauto’s private and business customers.
With production expected to begin in 2025, the sedan, dubbed Māchina, is claimed to be the ‘world’s first’ hydrogen-powered sedan.
Read more: Hopium unveils ‘first’ hydrogen-powered sedan
Hopium’s Chairman, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, believes the deal with Agilauto could amount to €1.2bn ($1.18bn). “We are delighted with this agreement with a leading financial partner,” said Djebbari. “This will enable us to strengthen our commercial strategy with a projected order of €1.2bn. This is part of the French and European industrial revival in the production of clean vehicles.”
When its prototype was revealed in 2021, Hopium said the Māchina had achieved a speed of 200km/h (124mph) in testing, which the company claimed ‘bordered’ on the performance first promised by the sedan in its final form.
Read more: Hopium unveils hydrogen-powered sedan prototype
Stéphane Priami, CEO of Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance, commented, “We are proud to support a French manufacturer of hydrogen-powered vehicles like Hopium and thus to contribute to the transformation towards green mobility of which Crédit Agricole wants to become the leader in France and Europe.”
Former Le Mans race driver, Olivier Lombard, CEO of Hopium, added, “I would like to thank Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance’s teams for their trust and support with this ground-breaking order for 10,000 Hopium Māchina.”
H2 View’s Hydrogen Mobility Snap Summit – November 29
With the mobility pillar consistently a hot topic for hydrogen markets and arguably the most anticipated and relatable application of the energy transition, H2 View stages a Mobility Snap Summit this November to summarise the progress made in 2022 and look ahead to what’s still to come.
Infrastructure challenges remain. Questions linger over policy and implementation. Many wonder which strand of the transport sector will blaze the trail in hydrogen power first, and likewise which region. There are clear challenges ahead, yet considerable progress made in 2022 and bright spots ahead in 2023 and beyond.
Join H2 View this November for a half-day online event dedicated to unearthing the progress made, dissecting the challenges to be met and establishing the state-of-play across mobility as 2023 approaches. Find more information here.
Premium Subscribers to H2 View have access to this event as part of their subscription package; non-subscribers can secure access to the event with a delegate ticket ($99). All delegates can access the event on-demand from 1st December.