Will Scion Be the Next Brand To Bite The Dust?

Hey Hey Good-BYE............

GREAT question, but I think the answer is no. Scion fills an important entry-level niche for the Toyota family in the US. Scion pulls interest from youngsters, bringing them into the fold and helping to fill Toyota's future customer pipeline.

Toyota is always thinking decades ahead, and canning Scion doesn't fit their long-term plan.

I'd agree if the average age buying scion's wasn't steadily increasing, I believe it's over 40 now... then again, they average Toyota buyer is over 50 and Lexus is attracting 60 year olds... I guess it still kind of is their youth brand LOL.

I am sick of people acting like Toyota should somehow try to ban people over the age of 30 from buying their cars. Toyota is a business. Nobody on the board of Toyota gives a rat's ass about younger or older people buying their cars. Toyota focuses on delivering a great product regardless of the age of the buyer.

Scion is a very low risk high return venture. Most of the cars are derivatives of existing platforms and form effective market forays for different styles. They need to bring more of their JDM / EURO cars in as Scions and it will fulfill their mantra.

Ever since Jim Press self detonated his career by moving off to Chrysler , his baby Scion has been bereft .
A good chief honcho can understand that Scion doesent have to be like Toyota but can be different. By selling em at a non negotiable price with so many dealer custom options its a great little market that currently just needs some new exciting product.

Not to mention their distribution network is linked to Toyota dealers...so there is really no additional infrastructure in place. Only advertising.

A re-vamp of their line up could help reignite sales...

The idea of Scion is great but the way Toyota made it real was terrible. Seriously their designs are terrible, they don't have enough personalisation and basically zero excitement about the brand.
Fresh aggressive designs, sportier interiors, more options, and good advertising could make these cars fly off lots.

M53R

Don't know what your opinion is based on because there is no Scion here in Middle east or anywhere outside North America.
Ok Toyota xA (discontinued)and Dhaitsu Materia are close but they are great value for money cars.

Or maybe as usual you are just blindly hating and putting down Toyota and their brands.

I think Toyota has good opportunity with Scion as they can turn the scion brand in to purely fuel efficient brand (hybrids, 3 cylinders...etc) and make it available in lot more markets.

JUGNU

I'm actually talking about the above two you mentioned. The xA and the Materia. The xA was fine when it 1st came out, but what happened after that? They couldn't keep it fresh or exciting so it died out completely. The Materia was never a good looking car, and it also died out completely now. I actually know all their cars, and my opinion is very valid. Their prices might be good, but can you honestly look at one and say "this is a nice looking car"? I don't think so.

As for me "just blindly hating and putting down Toyota and their brands.", you should look at it this way; is it me just blindly hating on anything Toyota, or is it just you blindly defending anything from Toyota? It deserves a thought.

REDEIGN THE DAMN THINGS ALREADY!!!! Why does toyota think they can ell the same vehicle design for 10 years without a huge decline in sales. They need to provide something fresh, epecially for those that get off of their lease or trade a purchase in every 3-4 years. Who wants to buy the same car? They need a 3, maybe 4 year redesign policy!

Who are you and what have you done with 1UAW?

The Tc will always do well, but the Xa and Xb are fawkin ugly! The turd box buyer market has been tapped.

I don't know if it will bite the dust because of Toyota's deep pockets. But it probably should. Scion got off to such a good start with the original xb and tc. Since then, the new xb has lost the edginess of the original xb and the tc was due for a total redesign a few years ago.

Scion will die off eventually. It was a fad if you ask me. The Xb and tC were the money makers for a time aimed at young people with low budgets that didn't want an off the shelf Corolla. They wanted fun options standard like a sunroof and 17" wheels. The Honda element was overpriced and so the Xb filled it's role. However more businesses bought Xb's and older people. tC's were reserved for teen girls and the occasional Jersey Shore making min on the boardwalk guy. Never was a fan of any of the lineup, the Xa was pointless compared to a Yaris and the Xd made no sense in any arrangement.

Time to go, shuffle the Xb to the Toyota line and say goodbye to the tC and put the offerings on Corolla. Heck restyle it and make a Corolla coupe.

The Xb was cool. Now its dated and every other maker has a clone. Scion lost their edge and now is just another entry level brand. Toyota should keep them if for no other reason than to differentiate their entry level cars from their main-line cars but Scion as a true brand is dead until they get some new designs.

I think the brand is aimed at a demographic that lost interest, and has now lost jobs. Not a healthy market segment.