Japanese automaker Toyota has unveiled its new gasoline-electric compact hybrid vehicle, Aqua in Japan as company looks to beat competition from pure electric vehicles.

According to Green Powertrain, the Aqua is the home version of Prius C in the U.S. and powered by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine rated at 72 horsepower and an electric motor rated at 45 kW as well as fed by additional power from a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack.

The engine provides a combined output of 98 hp providing 0-60 acceleration in less than 10.7 seconds, the company claimed.

The vehicle will be equipped with Toyota Hybrid System II (THS II) with reduction gear, which offered fuel efficiency of 35.4 km/l in the JC08 test cycle and 40.0 km/l in the MLIT 10-15 test cycle.

Aqua comes with a cooled Exhaust-Gas Recirculation (EGR) system which improves efficiency in the high-expansion-ratio Atkinson cycle engine.

The hybrid transaxle, which includes the power control unit, the power-generation motor and drive motor, has also been designed to be small and light.

Toyota said that the vehicle will be available in Japan in three grades: L, S and G with hybrid vehicle costing about $21,7905.