LEXUS is preparing potential corporate customers for the launch of its RX400h hybrid with a book entitled The Concise Guide to Income Tax and Company Cars.

Hidden inside the book, after more than a dozen pages of examples on company car tax rules, there is a leaflet headed Get Out Clause, introducing the petrol-electric RX400h.

The car will go on sale in 2005 and uses a 3.3-litre V6 engine combined with two electric motors, promising the performance of a V8-engine SUV with the fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of a petrol family car.

The RX400h is the first hybrid four-wheel drive vehicle to be offered in the UK.