Crédit Agricol orders 10,000 hydrogen cars
Crédit Agricol Consumer Finance has signed a deal with French FCEV maker Hopium for an order of 10,000 units. The cars will be made available for professional and private leasing through its subsidiary for car finance Agilauto.
It’s a partly leap of faith. Hopium is a Fench start-up without any prior experience in car-building that officialy showed its first car, La Machina, at the Paris Motor Show 2022. It’s a 120,000 euro zero-emission luxury sedan equipped with a fuel cell for hydrogen. Production is set to start in 2025, since the technical development of the definite model is ongoing and still needs thorough testing and validation.
Not at the heart of fleets
However, with the order from Crédit Agricol in the pocket, worth 1.2 billion euros, the carmaker can look into the future with a less shaky confidence. It represents half of their planned yearly output.
La Machina will be part of Agilauto’s strategy to offer a decarbonized fleet, though Crédit Agricole admits that the order is also a supportive measure to lift Hopium’s industrial chances.
The order is reminiscent of Leaseplan’s engagement with Lightning, the solar car specialist from The Netherlands. But whereas Leaseplan has invested in the second, cheaper and broader model from the startup, Crédit Agricol is putting it stakes in a high-end luxury liner, with an output of 500 horsepower and a range of 1,000 kilometers. It’s not exactly aimed at the heart of the European fleet market.
Image: Hopium
