According to the Best Car magazine of Japan, Toyota is currently working on a dedicated sporty hybrid model that aims to compete with the upcoming CR-Z hybrid from Honda.

The report states that Toyota is considering employing a famous Italian design company such as Pininfarina or Guigiaro Italdesign to work on the styling of the sporty version that's expected to be a coupe.

The image above is an artist rendering of a possible coupe model based on the Prius.

Toyota needs to produce this vehicle in order to compete with the slightly sportier version of the Honda Insight, the CR-Z. The CR-Z is set to premier in production form at the Tokyo Motor Show this year and Honda hopes to have the vehicle on sale sometime next year.

The Prius coupe is merely speculation at this point as Best Car magazine did not disclose source information and Toyota has not confirmed the report.

Source: Best Car Magazine via Carscoop