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AFP
Published
Mar 26, 2012
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Swatch mulling car that runs on hydrogen, oxygen: chairman

By
AFP
Published
Mar 26, 2012

GENEVA - The world's biggest watch company Swatch is looking at building a car that runs on hydrogen and oxygen, its chief executive and chairman Nick Hayek said in an interview published Sunday.


Photo: Smart

"We already have a test-car with a fuel cell," Hayek told newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

"Liquid hydrogen and oxygen are used as fuel, producing very efficient combustion," he said, adding that the management board of Belenos -- the Swatch subsidiary building the vehicle -- has already driven around on the prototype.

"What we don't know is whether it would be cost-efficient to build," said Hayek, the son of Swatch's founder.

The fuel-cell vehicle is not Swatch's first attempt at building a green car. In 1997, it teamed up with Daimler-Benz to build the two-seater Smart but the watch firm later sold its shares to Daimler-Benz.

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