A founder of the Porsche company and former boss of Volkswagen has been appointed chairman of a UK company developing hydrogen fuel cell cars.

Sebastian Piech takes over at Riversimple from John Constable, who died last month after a short illness.

Riversimple hopes to have60 cars involved in trials in two regions of the UK next year, the first large-scale trial of hydrogen-fuelled cars in the country. Mr Piech believes that leasing rather than selling the cars “is the way forward for the motor industry”.

He added: “We aim to build a profitable company that has sustainability at its heart. Others will follow.”

Riversimple founder Hugo Spowers said: “Sebastian has been with the company since the start and shares our vision and values. The fact that a scion of one of Europe’s most famous auto families is actively involved in an innovative company like Riversimple is a pointer to the future of the auto business. We look forward to calling on his tremendous experience in business, marketing and engineering.”

In December last year Riversimple recruited Christopher Reitz, former chief of design at Fiat.