Ford fired several shots across Toyota's bow when the American carmaker said that its 2013 C-Max hybrid beats the Prius in both cost and mpg performance.

The C-Max will arrive in dealers in the fall.

Ford boasts that C-Max's mpg numbers are projected at 47 for city and 44 for highway, versus Prius's 44 and 40.

"The C-Max Hybrid builds on Ford's 20 years of hybrid innovation and fuel-efficient offerings to take on Prius v with better city fuel economy at 47 mpg and at better value - a great chance for us to shake up the hybrid market," Raj Nair, group vice president of Ford's Global Product Development, said in a statement. "C-Max Hybrid delivers 3 mpg more than Prius v with 50 more horsepower and exclusive technologies such as our hands-free liftgate - and the $1,300-lower base price means the payback period will be the smallest in the segment."

C-Max's base price is $25,995. The payback period for the hybrid technology premium is projected at only two years. Ford points to this when it says that it expects many C-MAX buyers to be "conquest" customers who previously owned other hybrids.

Ford also says that the C-Max can be driven 500-plus miles with total system horsepower of 188, compared to Prius's 134.

The C-Max is produced at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan. 

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