The Toyota Prius is the most successful petrol-electric hybrid vehicle in the world, but being a relatively big car it's hardly made hybrids affordable to the general public.
But now Toyota is taking a step closer to providing a hybrid for the people with the Prius C that you see in the accompanying picture, which was scanned from a leaked brochure.
Not only will it be more affordable and lighter on fuel but its more adventurous styling should bite a chunk out of the perception that hybrid cars are chronically boring.
The leaked brochure also includes a spec sheet, revealing some of the basic measurements and engine specifications.
At 3995mm in length, the Prius C is not much bigger than a Yaris and naturally it's also been downsized on the engine front, with a total system output of 74kW (versus the Prius' 100kW).
The outputs are achieved by combining a 55kW/111Nm 1.4-litre Atkinson Cycle petrol engine with an electric motor that's good for 45kW and 169Nm. As with its regular Prius brother, power is channelled to the front wheels via a CVT continuously variable transmission.
Watch this space as more information becomes available towards the end of the year, ahead of its roll out to global markets during the first half of 2012.