Toyota already has 1,900 signatures for Mirai fuel cell car

Toyota's hybrid-vehicle sales this year suggest that some Americans have had their fill of green models like the Prius. Deliveries of the gas-electric hybrid have been down all year. When it comes to the Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, though, there's already a waiting line.

The Japanese automaker started taking down a waiting list for its first fuel-cell vehicle in July. Since then, almost 1,900 people have signed up, according to Green Car Reports. That's more people than the number of Mirais that Toyota has said it will make during the model's first full year of production. Toyota plans to deliver its first Mirai models to eight California dealerships by the end of the month.

To winnow some of those folks out, Toyota is sending reps out to interview the prospective owners. As expected, Toyota is giving priority to those who live closest to publicly accessible hydrogen refueling stations.

A Toyota representative confirmed to Autoblog that almost 1,900 people had expressed interest in the Mirai by early October, and that the company planned to make about 1,000 Mirais for the US market for the 2016 model year. Toyota plans to gradually ramp up Mirai production during the next few years, and will deliver about 3,000 to US customers by the end of 2017. Toyota is listing the car at $57,500, though, according to Green Car Reports, almost everyone jumping in is going the lease route. That means a 36-month commitment at $499 a month with a down payment of about $3,500.

Europe has a bit of a jump on the US when it comes to Mirai deliveries. The first handful of Mirais arrived in Europe in early August. Still, annual production levels are supposed to be in the hundreds, instead of the thousands, across the Pond.

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