Hydrogen SUVheaded to market

DETROIT — For years, the joke in the auto industry was that a mass-produced car that runs on hydrogen was always a decade away.

That will change next year when Hyundai starts selling a Tucson SUV powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It will be the first mass-market vehicle of its type to be sold or leased in the U.S.

“These things are now ready for prime time,” John Krafcik, Hyundai’s North American CEO, said last week. His company plans to announce details of the new Tucson on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Even as the industry focused on battery-powered and hybrid cars, automakers such as Hyundai, Honda and Toyota kept up research on fuel cells. Now they appear to have conquered obstacles such as high costs, safety concerns and a lack of filling stations. These vehicles could help the companies meet stricter future fuel-economy standards.

Automakers have been dabbling in hydrogen-powered cars since the 1960s. General Motors announced a test fleet of hydrogen-powered Chevy Equinoxes in the mid-2000s, and Honda leased about two-dozen FCX Clarity models for $600 per month starting in 2005.

JPMorgan, DOJ said to set deal

The Justice Department and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have reached agreement on all issues in a $13 billion settlement of a civil inquiry into the company’s sales of low-quality mortgage-backed securities that collapsed in value during the financial crisis, a person close to the talks said late Monday.

The person said the documents spelling out the agreement could be signed as early as Tuesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has yet to be finalized.

Another person familiar with the talks, also speaking only on condition of anonymity, said the two sides were “very close” to a final agreement.

The settlement is reported to be the largest ever reached between the government and a corporation. It eclipses the record $4 billion levied on oil giant BP in January in the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The nation’s biggest bank will pay more than $6 billion to compensate investors, pay $4 billion to help struggling homeowners and pay the remainder as a fine.

The deal is the latest chapter in the housing bubble’s burst in 2007, when bundles of mortgages sold by JPMorgan and other financial institutions left investors with billions of dollars in losses.

JPMorgan has said that most of its mortgage-backed securities came from Bear Stearns Cos. and Washington Mutual Inc., troubled companies that JPMorgan acquired in 2008.

Still to come is a decision on whether the Justice Department will file criminal charges against JPMorgan. An investigation is underway by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Sacramento, Calif.

— From wire reports