The first consignment of the Mirai, which landed on Saturday at the carmaker’s import centre at Portbury, near Bristol, forms part of a limited number of models being sold in the UK. The vehicles have already been snapped up, principally by business and corporate customers tempted by the model’s zero harmful tailpipe emissions.

Karl Schlicht, executive vice president Toyota Motor Europe, said: “This marks the debut of a new age for clean mobility, a turning point in the history of the automobile. With Mirai and its fuel cell technology, Toyota is working on delivering clean, safe and enjoyable mobility for the next 100 years. We are looking forward to the start of deliveries of the first Mirai to customers from September and to see the future taking shape on European roads.

“As with Prius 15 years ago, we are proud to bring yet another ground-breaking innovation to the marketplace.”

The Mirai is also initially being sold in Germany and Denmark in Europe as well as Japan, the USA and Europe, in line with available refuelling infrastructure.

Toyota said the experiences of the first customers to drive Mirai will also be valuable in helping it to further refine and develop the technology.