While a range of manufacturers are planning on joining the electric car party, Kia has revealed that it is focusing on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at the moment.
The news was confirmed by the company’s engineering boss Albert Biermann while speaking with Auto Express and confirms that like sister brand Hyundai, Kia thinks hydrogen cars are worthy of its research and development resources.
“Are we working on a Tesla fighter like everybody else? At this point I can tell you: no, we are not working on it. But I would not exclude this for all times – when the time comes we can just do it. We have our own eco powertrain development centre, and we’re also developing a hydrogen fuel cell car for the Kia side,” Biermann said.
Just last week, Hyundai announced that for the 2018 Winter Olympics, it will release an all-new hydrogen model offering an increase in range and power of the existing ix35 fuel cell variant.
Consequently, it’s almost certain that Kia is helping to develop this improved fuel cell powertrain and will use it on a future model, potentially in the form of a new Sportage derivative.
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