Toyota’s hybrid has pretty much been the Prius all this while, at least until Honda, one of the company’s main competitors, came along with the more affordable and newer Honda Insight hybrid vehicle. In order to combat the competition, Toyota has decided to launch their new hybrid vehicle, the Aqua, in Japan.
According to Toyota, the Aqua will be their smallest hybrid offering in the market and supposedly had already received an order of 60,000 ahead of its launch. As far as specifications and performance is concerned, the Aqua (based on Japan’s JC08 test cycle), boasts a fuel economy of 35.4 kilometers per liter which is an improvement over the Prius’ 32.6 kilometers per liter.
For those living overseas and who are looking to get their hands on the Toyota Aqua, the company has plans for a global rollout come 2012 which encompasses 50 countries including the US. The Aqua will be known as the “Prius c” internationally, but Europe will be getting a different model based on the Yaris compact but will still run on the same hybrid system as the Aqua.
The starting price of the Toyota Aqua has been set at ¥1.69 million (~$22,000) although we can’t be sure if Toyota will be sticking to those prices when it makes its way into international markets.
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