Toyota officially announce the Aqua hybrid, also known as the Prius C

December 26, 2011 By Andy Boxall

Toyota officially unveils the Aqua hybrid car in Japan. It's set for its US debut at the Detroit International Motor Show in January, when it'll be named the Prius C.

Toyota has officially unveiled its Aqua compact hybrid car, set to be called the Prius C when it comes to the USA. It’s the first spin-off of the popular Prius brand, and is similar in size to the Toyota Yaris.

The concept appeared at the New York motor show back in April, then again as a leaked set of press shots in October. In-between time, the car lost the barking mad headlights and the steeply raked roofline, which made it look more like the VW Scirocco than a compact city car.

It goes on sale in Japan today, where it costs the equivalent of $21,700, which is 22% less than the entry-level Prius according to Bloomberg. Toyota claims to have received 60,000 pre-orders for the vehicle, and expects monthly sales to be around 12,000.

Aimed at younger buyers, the Aqua uses the same 1.5-liter Toyota Hybrid System II engine found in some of the most recent Prius cars, which has returned a touch over 35 km/l or 82mpg in Japanese tests. This will be revised to between 50mpg and 60mpg for the US launch though.

Performance using both engines is quoted as being 10.7 seconds to 100km/h or 62mph, and in the mid-range the 25mph to 44mph (40km/h to 70km/h) dash is covered in 3.6 seconds.

The Aqua is expected to make its US debut as the Prius C at the International Auto Show in Detroit this coming January, and will potentially go on sale before June. The price has yet to be confirmed, but could be similar to the Aqua’s $20,000 price tag.

Showing 5 comments

tytheteacher at 4:07pm 26th December 2011 I don't know a lot about how companies figure out mpg or km/l, but are the Japanese testing methods different than American? Why is the number getting revised for the North American launch?
1. Andy Boxall at 1:30am 27th December 2011 Yes, as far as I understand, the methods used to calculate fuel economy differ between countries, as everyone uses different measurements, different calculations, and must adhere to different directives. Even the "test cycles" used to come up with an economy figure vary due to differences in driving conditions.
  1. tytheteacher at 5:11am 27th December 2011 That's the thing; I knew about the driving conditions. Otherwise, when a company tells me I can get 30 mpg then I could get that all the time. And the whole city vs highway thing. I just wish that there was a way to get the whole thing calculated more efficiently. If this car was going to deliver what it offers based on Japanese figures, I'd love to have this as my primary mode of transportation in the city. It is a fairly good looking car and I loved the write up. Can I stay tuned on this site and get the North American standards when they are finally unveiled? I'm moving back to Canada within the year, but I won't be seeing any North American commercials for... well, anything until I go home.
Jacqueline 'Jackie' Jones at 10:12pm 26th December 2011 Runs on water, eh?
Stephen Black Suns Hirst at 9:36pm 26th December 2011 i gonna be a movie about them cars too but there unsure who is gonna cast the first Prius