Congratulations, Ford, GM, etc. You only had to get your butts kicked for ten years before you came up with a Prius clone.

How does this undercut the Prius? According to Toyotas web site, the Prius C One starts at $18,950. I'm no math genius, but isn't that about $7000 cheaper than the Ford??
http://www.toyota.com/priusc/trims-prices.html

Hey Vandalay - the price comparison is being made to the Prius V, not the Prius C. I haven't seen a comparison chart that includes all 3 models side by side, so I don't know if the the C-Max is more properly compared to the Prius C or the Prius V.

It states in the article the Prius V and not the Prius C, so yes, it is cheaper to that Prius model. The Prius V is comparable in size and capacity and not the smaller Prius C.

@ Vandalay This price is considering the tax rebate you can get from the government. the Prius C is actually about 26k.

I don't believe that $500, even if you were comparing a comparable new Ford hybrid to 10 years of proven technology in a Prius, would sway many, if any, purchasers to switch. I blieve the Focus name has been around way too long and the car has probably advanced beyond it's early stigma. Ford, you need to not compare this to a Focus.

Not as aesthetically pleasing as the Prius, inside or out, to me...in particular, really ugly front grill, yuk. Clunky looking hand brake (Prius has a foot brake), Prius has cool mini-shifter on top center console, not retro looking big old Ford shifter...just on these two features alone, I'll take Prius and Ford can keep the $500. Of course mileage is top priority for anyone buying hybrids...and five minutes of digging around the Ford site didn't yield any specs about mileage so we'll have to see...it does have a continuously variable trannie, which is super in a Toyota. Bottom line, does it really offer anything the Prius doesn't already have, and proven, in the U.S.? Time will tell...meanwhile, I wish they'd turned loose a better designer, what an uninspiring, cobbed-together look, very disappointing.

way to go fords,i think you got the Prius beat. bigger better and more fun to own. from the hack back that actually keeps you out of the rain to the fact that it's more economical.

I'm happy that Ford has finally gotten around to doing what Toyota started many many years ago. We are a two Prius family. We have an 04 with about 90,000 miles on it now and have a 2010 Prius that we bought used with 24,000 miles on it for $19,000. The 04 still is perfect and the 2010 regularly gets 54 mpg and that is no shiite either. We only use the ECO mode on the 2010. Fantastic cars, but the 2010 is really better than the 2004. I think the 04 would get the same mileage figures as the 2010 if they could reprogram the computer to manage the system in an ECO mode just like the 2010. The 2004 runs like the 2010 in Power Mode. That's fine but the ECO sips the gas stingier. Put a more power dense lithium battery pack in the 2010 instead of the nickel metal batter and I'd bet it would get 60 or 70 mpg but then they wouldn't sell the next upgraded Prius as well.

Price isn't everything. My Prius has logged 400K with no serious maintenance an is running strong. Let's see if the C-MAX can do as well.