Edward Stephens drives a hybrid light years ahead of the opposition.

It’s finally happened. There is now a hybrid so quiet it comes with an audible warning system to alert pedestrians when it’s manoeuvring at low speed.

Without it you could easily find an Infiniti M35h creeping up behind you in a car park and you’d never know it.

What is bizarre is that unlike in Europe and the US the law in the UK expressly forbids the use of the system when the car is reversing.

The M35hGT Premium, to give it its full name, is not only quiet and luxurious it’s also faster than any other hybrid yet to go on sale.

In fact it’s even faster than any of the other models in the Infiniti range, be they diesel or petrol, and for a company already recognised for the performance of its cars that’s saying something.

With a top speed limited to 155mph, this car will rocket you from standstill to 62mph in 5.5 seconds – and still average more than 40 miles per gallon.

And don’t be surprised when you ease off the power if the rev counter needle suddenly drops to zero as the car switches solely to power from its lithium batteries rather than its V6 petrol engine.

While some hybrids struggle to run at town centre speed limits of 30mph on batteries alone the M35h will, under the right conditions, run at the motorway speed limit without polluting the atmosphere.

While the car shares the same body and luxury interior with the existing petrol and diesel M models – only the badge distinguishes it – power comes from a 3.5-litre petrol engine combined with a 50KW electric motor to give a combined output of 359bhp through a seven-speed automatic gearbox.

As you drive along you can see on the dashboard display screen whether the car is running on battery power, petrol or a combination of both, although if you are not careful it can become a little bit obsessive, distracting you from what’s on the road.

As with almost all hybrids packing lithium batteries on board means you do loose boot space.

But on the M35h the remaining luggage area is still pretty good for a big four-door saloon and will certainly cope with four sets of golf clubs – the pre-requisite for Americans – or two large suitcases.

Interior space in this executive saloon is impressive too, both in the front and the back.

And inside the car you are cocooned against the outside world thanks to impressive sound-proofing and double glazed windows. The car goes on sale on September 12 and is priced at £46,840, some £1,180 more than the equivalent diesel M model.

Infiniti expects that the hybrid will account for 40 per cent of sales of the M model with the diesel taking 50 per cent and petrol 10 per cent.

And while the M35h is an innovative creation, the company has a lot more to come.

While it originally concentrated on eight and six-cylinder engines, new developments mean that four-cylinder models will soon be wearing Infiniti badges, making the cars more affordable for a wider market.

Watch this space.