Sadly, British buyers...

Sadly, British buyers won"t benefit as the car will be on sale only in Japan. A spokesman for Toyota UK said: "This is a model for the home market. At the moment, there are no plans to bring it to Europe, and it"s not related to the city car we"re developing with PSA Peugeot Citroen. That isn"t likely to appear until the Geneva Motor Show in February."

Meanwhile, the British subsidiaries of two rival Japanese manufacturers are being investigated by the Inland Revenue. Honda and Nissan are in the spotlight over transfer pricing.

This is the way in which multi-national groups can price goods at lower-than-market value, so that any final profit earned is in a country where the tax burden is lower. This allows firms to cut their tax bills.

The investigation raises a question mark over the existing arrangements with Inland Revenue, where losses incurred by companies are offset against future profits.