Toyota has come under fresh fire from giant European pension funds over its opposition to going “all in” on electric vehicles, as green activist investors prepare for a showdown at this week’s general meeting.

Once the pioneer of green technology with the Prius hybrid launch in 1997, the Japanese car giant has become one of the most vocal critics of a rapid transition to battery-powered vehicles and the fiercest guardian of the petrol-electric hybrid technology.

In the UK, Toyota has previously warned it would stop investing in its UK factory, where more than 80 per cent of production is hybrid, if its technology was banned from sale. The government has recently proposed that more than half of all new cars sold in the UK must be fully electric by 2028, but was criticised for not clarifying the future of hybrids.