Ford is not shying away from the fact that it has set its eyes on the Toyota Prius V with the new C-MAX Hybrid as the Blue Oval makes it a point to put at least one reference to the Japanese carmaker’s minivan in all of its press statements. Last time, it was the C-MAX Hybrid’s fuel economy with Ford stating that its new minivan will be much more efficient than the Prius V that returns an EPA estimated 44mpg city, 40mpg highway and 42mpg combined. So wait, what is the C-MAX Hybrid’s fuel economy? Well, that is something Ford has yet to announce… Moving on to today, Ford dropped pricing information on the 2013 C-MAX Hybrid, that starts at $25,995, excluding handling and destination fees (* – not yet announced). And as you may have already guessed, Ford noted that its new model is approximately $500 lower than the Toyota Prius V’s base price ($555, to be precise). “C-MAX Hybrid offers better fuel economy, performance, technology and functionality than Prius v – and C-MAX Hybrid customers will pay less at the dealership and at the pump,” said Ken Czubay, vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. The five-seater C-MAX Hybrid is based on Ford’s European market C-MAX with power coming from a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle gasoline engine linked to an electric motor and a lithium-ion battery pack. Ford also plans to introduce a plug-in hybrid variant of the C-MAX, which it claims will deliver a better fuel economy equivalent (MPGe) in all-electric mode than the…Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid along with a 500 miles (800 km) driving range.