The Grand Tour drives Amazon Prime viewing records to an all-time high

Jeremy Clarkson is steering his new Amazon Prime show, The Grand Tour, in the right direction, it seems.

The streaming site have claimed that the first episode of its new motoring series, starring Top Gear's former famous trio Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, has become its biggest premiere yet.

The trio's 2016 comeback – which has been highly anticipated for the past year – is now the most-watched premiere in Amazon Prime's history, trumping a previous record set by drama The Man in the High Castle.

Amazon stated on Monday 21 November that "millions of Prime members streaming the first episode in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan" viewed Clarkson's new series when it premiered on Friday (18 November).

There were also a record number of new subscriptions for Amazon Prime on Friday, which topped all other days except for Prime Day super-sales.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, said of the success: "The guys are back, doing what they do best – the chemistry between Jeremy, Richard and James is what makes The Grand Tour so entertaining.

"Their creativity, along with the amazing production quality and 4K HDR streaming, has Prime members responding in a big way. Kudos and congrats to the whole team."

More episodes are set to air in the next few weeks and a worldwide release is scheduled for December. The £160m series focuses on the famous trio travelling the world from LA to Dubai where they test and try all the coolest new car kit.

The Grand Tour has received an overwhelmingly positive response since it launched last week – from the viewing public as well as media outlets and reviewers.

One Twitter user wrote: "watched the 1st episode absolutely loved it. Oh How we've missed you guys lol looking forward to 3 years of #grandtour," as another put: "Wish I didn't know about The Grand Tour so I could've just binge watched them instead of waiting every Friday".

The Grand Tour's second episode airs on Amazon Prime on Friday (25 November).