Ford Motor has confirmed it is on the brink of becoming the first US manufacturer to sell a hybrid gasoline-electric car since the eco-friendly model began arriving on American shores in significant numbers five years ago, according to Fuel Cell Today.

The historic motor manufacturer will put its hybrid Escape SUV on limited sale at the beginning of August for between $27,000 and $29,000 depending on specifications.

Ford has revealed it expects the environmentally friendly, clean-fuelled vehicle to deliver between 35-40 miles per gallon.

Angela Coletti, Ford's spokeswoman for the vehicle line, said the firm expects to sell around 20,000 units of the hybrid vehicle a year, with a view to expanding production should the market demand it.

Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Biggs commented on the need to boost the profile of clean fuel vehicles: "It's a matter of how quickly we can get the market to embrace the additional cost of these new technologies."

The Escape will join Honda's Insight and Civic Hybrid and Toyota's Prius as the fourth hybrid vehicle to become commercially available in the US.