Based on the newly facelifted 2012 model year Prius, the Plug-in version travels up to 15.5 miles using power from its lithium ion battery. A 24% improvement over the pre-production car, it still takes 90 minutes to recharge and the battery space is unchanged compared to a standard Prius.

Once depleted, the car behaves like its conventional hybrid sibling, but betters it on efficiency at 76.4mpg and 85g/km CO2 compared to 72.4mpg and 89g/km for the standard car. As a result, the Prius Plug-in Hybrid can travel 769 miles using a combination of electricity and petrol power.

Prices are slightly higher than initially anticipated, though, at under £30,000 inclusive of the £5,000 plug-in car grant. The car will be launched in the UK this summer.