Toyota's smallest hybrid car, named the Aqua in Japan and the Prius C in the United States, went on sale December 26 in Japan with its native country's manufacturer hoping to attract young buyers to the entry level, fuel efficient market.
Priced with a U.S. dollar-converted $21,770, Toyota hopes to sell 12,000 Aquas per month in Japan as part of its global goal of selling 20 percent more hybrid vehicles in 2012 than it's expected to sell in final 2011 totals.
"The Aqua shows Toyota is increasing efforts to boost sales in the domestic market," said Mamoru Kato, an auto analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center in Nagoya, Japan. "Toyota raised the price of the Prius to a more profitable level, so the Aqua serves to meet demand for smaller, cheaper hybrids."
The Aqua measures 12.8 feet in length, compared with the 14.7-foot Prius, and has as much legroom as a Corolla compact, according to chief engineer Satoshi Ogiso.
The Prius C is expected to debut in the United States in March 2012 at about 20 percent less than the entry level cost of the Prius.
United States' deliveries of the Prius, the world's best-selling hybrid car, rose 49 percent last month from a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp.
"While hybrids are generally projected to sell in developed markets like the U.S., it's difficult to say if such a small car as the Prius C will sell," said Kato.
Article Last Updated: December 26, 2011.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.
