Toyota unveiled its latest Prius in Tokyo on Monday and consumers seem to like it.

The company has booked 80,000 advanced orders for the third generation Prius since April, Hayashi Sakawa, our colleague in Japan, tells us. That's way above the 10,000 per month of orders Toyota expected.

The new Prius has a larger engine (1800cc) than the previous one (1500cc) but it comes out a lower price tag than the second generation one did. The new one will cost $20,000, less than the $23,300 price of the second-gen Prius. The second-gen car, however, costs now around $18,900. The new Prius can also go 23.6 miles on a liter of gasoline.

Toyota, of course, is facing far more competition in hybrids and energy efficiency. Honda recently released a revamped Insight for just under $20,000. Nissan and Ford, meanwhile, will start to come out with economically priced all-electrics next year.