Toyota's hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle to be called the Mirai

The future at Toyota looks bright, and it's called the 'Mirai'. That's the official name for the firm's new hydrogen fuel cell vehicle – a four-door saloon rival for the Honda FCX Clarity.

Having completed millions of track miles and an impressive 10 years of road testing in all types of weather, the Mirai is finally production ready. Despite the FCX Clarity appearing on roads in California over five years ago, it has been held back from anything other than limited public leasing because of the lack of fuelling infrastructure.

But as investment in hydrogen filling stations steps up, particularly in the UK, now is a better time for both manufacturers to have production-ready models in their line-ups.

Toyota is launching the Mirai in Japan tomorrow, before it goes on sale there in April. The car will then make its debut in Europe and the US towards the middle of next year.

Details of the four-door saloon so far are scarce, but Toyota has confirmed the Mirai can manage 300 miles on one tank of hydrogen, and can be refuelled in as little as five minutes. As before, the only emission from hydrogen propulsion is water vapour.

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Power output is rumoured to be roughly 135bhp – almost identical to Honda's FCX and comparable to a regular family saloon. The high-pressure 700bar twin tanks of hydrogen remain identical to those of the prototype seen in Las Vegas at the start of this year.

Prices in Japan are expected start at around £45,000, but Toyota is waiting to hear if the UK Government will provide similar cash subsidies to electric cars before confirming how much the newcomer will cost here.

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