The first TV advertisements have been released by Ford to promote their new 2013 C-Max hybrid vehicles.

The ads are bolder then car enthusiasts have come to expect from Ford, yet comical at the same time. It is clear however what the company's intentions are now: to release a car that will rival the Toyota Prius.

The Toyota Prius franchise has dominated sales numbers in the U.S. for conventional plug-ins, hybrids and Evs, but Ford is hoping to give the award-winning vehicle a little competition for once.

Ford's plan of attack has been simple yet carefully thought out. They feel that they can compete directly with the Prius, and think that they can beat the Toyota series the sales race sooner than later.

"It's a direct comparison," Ford CMO Jim Farley told USA Today about the new campaign. "Prius is so well understood by customers. Toyota has done such a good job with hybrids. So it makes sense for us to compare C-Max to Prius. And it's fun to drive, which you don't expect from a hybrid."

During the ads, Ford uses a 2-D-animation strategy and compares C-Max to the newest line of Prius vehicles. There is one ad which uses a cartoon character named Mr. Linea and shows him driving a Prius until its battery dies out. He gets out of the car, kicks it in frustration, and gets into a new C-Max before driving away.

This ad was clearly done to try and show that the company feels the C-Max will last longer on the road and be more reliable in the long run.

Another advertisement being shown includes Mr. Linea again, only this time he is trying to get groceries into his trunk. He doesn't have a free hand to do so, but once a sensor is drawn on to the car, he is able to just move his foot in front of it and the trunk then opens by itself.

The C-Max is around 300 pounds heavier than the newest Prius models, and has the same amount of passenger space. The car comes equipped with 188 horsepower compared to the Prius v's 134 horsepower. The C-Max also achieves better fuel economy with 47 mpg on the highway compared to 40 mpg that the Prius v gets.

Expect the vehicle to be sold at a slightly lower price than the Prius, as interested buyers can claim the car for a little over $25,000. The Prius v is being sold at $26,550.

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