"The ix35 Fuel Cell is the pinnacle of Hyundai's advanced engineering and our most powerful commitment to be the industry leader in eco-friendly mobility," said Woong Chul Yang, head of Hyundai R&D.
"Zero-emissions cars are no longer a dream.
"Our ix35 Fuel Cell vehicle is here today, and ready for commercial use."
Built with patented technology, Hyundai's ix35 Fuel Cell is powered by hydrogen.
A fuel cell stack converts the hydrogen into electricity, which turns the vehicle's motor.
The only by-product generated is water.
The ix35 Fuel Cell boasts driveability and performance similar to the petrol-engined ix35 models.
It offers rapid refuel with hydrogen taking only a few minutes, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 12.5sec, with a top speed of 160 km/h and a range of 588km.
The cost of fuelling the vehicle in Europe is roughly equivalent to NZ$15.59/100km of driving range.
A fully-charged ix35 Fuel Cell takes about 5.6kg of hydrogen, meaning a fill-up costs about $87.
Hyundai says the technology is the result of 14 years and several hundred million dollars of research by hundreds of engineers at its fuel cell R&D centre in Mabuk, Korea.
The car has logged more than 3.2 million km of road testing in Europe, Korea and the US.
Early this year an ix35 Fuel Cell set a record for hydrogen cars by driving from Oslo to Monaco using only existing fuel stations.
Travelling via Denmark, Germany and France, the vehicle covered 2260km in five days.
