Global hydrogen passenger‑car sales barely topped 16,000 units last year, while electric vehicles passed 12 million. Yet Toyota persists with fuel‑cell models, shipping 1,168 Mirai and Crown units in 2025 – a 39 percent drop from the prior year, mainly in Europe and Japan. Hyundai led the segment with 6,861 cars, underscoring how far hydrogen remains from mass‑market relevance.

The bottleneck is fueling infrastructure: fewer than 1,400 hydrogen stations operate worldwide versus over 5.7 million public EV chargers. High production costs push fuel‑cell cars into premium pricing, and many jurisdictions have trimmed generous subsidies. Still, a steady stream of trucks can justify a station; a site serving 200 rigs daily would move more than 8,000 kg of hydrogen, making the capital outlay more viable for logistics.

Toyota’s strong hybrid franchise cushions the weak fuel‑cell line, delivering reliable earnings while the company pours capital into battery EVs and experiments with hydrogen trucks under a joint programme with the Japanese government. Those trucks could open a new revenue stream, but volumes remain low and economics unfavourable. In the near term, hydrogen stays a niche bet alongside hybrid and electric strategies.