Saleen Is Working On A Hydrogen Supercar And Wants To Race At Le Mans

Saleen is developing a hydrogen-fueled supercar for the street and, as if working on such a car wasn’t audacious enough for the small firm, it also wants to go racing with it.

Steve Saleen has inked a deal with French engine manufacturing Solution F to use one of its twin-turbocharged V6 engines that can run on hydrogen, synthetic fuel, or traditional fuels. Although we don’t know much about this engine yet, Saleen says it’ll have a hydrogen demonstrator ready by the end of this year.

Read: World’s Only Saleen S7 Twin Turbo With Competition Package Offers 1,000 HP And Gorgeous Styling

The car was announced in the lead-up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That’s a big deal because Saleen isn’t just planning a new street car, but it wants to compete in the world’s most grueling endurance race. Steve Saleen says racing is part of the brand’s DNA and new ACO regulations for hydrogen cars will allow it to enter the field. However, it’ll still be a little while before the production model hits the roads.

“The [production] car will probably be another couple of years out,” Saleen told SportsCar365. “We’ll have the demo car before the end of this calendar year but actually having a production car that someone can actually purchase and drive every day, it takes a while to go through all of certification requirements. Not just emission but crash, airbag deployment, headlights, taillights, all the things that require bringing an automotive product to the market.”

The first vehicle from Saleen and Solution F will be an experimental car based on the existing Foenix H2 (pictured).

“We believe the long-term solution for transportation will be multi-faceted where hydrogen and synthetic fuels are the future in environmentally friendly engines, while still offering the ultimate in performance, and traditional fueling convenience,” he added.

Except for some tuned Ford Mustangs, little has been heard from Saleen in recent years. In 2019, it was planning to launch a suit of electric vehicles in China but in 2020, Saleen alleged its joint venture partner had stolen $800 million worth of its intellectual property.