Toyota Yaris (Herraez/Bigstock.com)
Could we one day see a hydrogen-powered rally car? Given the appearance of Toyota's Mirai hydrogen-electric car at a World Rally Championship event in Germany on the weekend, quite possibly.
But the 153bhp Mirai is not quite ready to take on the petrol-driven rally cars of today; it takes a rather steady 9.6 seconds to hit 62mph from standstill.
Indeed, the special rally-focussed Mirai was built for the opening stages of the ADAC Rally Deutschland, but did not directly compete. However, it was still kitted out with a roll cage, high-performance brake pads, race decals and rally tyres.
Not a rally car yet, then. But the Japanese firm has high hopes that the pollution-free hydrogen-powered rally car could one day exist. Yoshikazu Tanaka, the Mirai's chief engineer, said: "It is our dream that one day our fuel cell vehicles will be able to compete in WRC. Spectators at the Rally Deutschland will have to get used to this noiseless premiere at Trier, but they'll experience the art of an almost pollution-free future."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, motorists in the car's motherland Japan have been able to buy a road-focussed Mirai for some time. A modest 200 Mirais will be shipped to the USA this year, while drivers in the UK, Denmark and Germany will also get the option to buy one soon – although shipment numbers a likely to be small too.
Mainland Europeans will be able to buy a Mirai in October, with prices starting at €66,000. A no-options Mirai will cost UK buyers substantially more, at £63,104, (around €86,000).
The Mirai has a range of 300 miles and will compete with the likes of the Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell and all-electric cars like the Nissan Leaf.
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