Toyota's Shift To Becoming More Emotional Was The Final Nail In The Coffin For Scion

Toyota has made itself more appealing to youth, and today’s young car buyers have developed a taste for the brand that kids once soured on.

That’s essentially how Bill Fay, general manager of Toyota Sales U.S.A., explains why Scion is going away, 13 years after its creation as Toyota’s youth brand.

“Ten years ago, kids didn’t necessarily want to buy Toyotas as much as we wanted them to,” he says at the Chicago Auto Show.

Back then, Toyota product planners looked at buyer demographics and worried vehicles such as the Camry midsize sedan might become Toyota’s version of “my father’s Oldsmobile.”

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MDarringer - 2/16/2016 8:01:06 PM

-1 Boost

Oh puhleeze! Scion died because Toyota did take-it-or-leave-it pricing on Toyota's crap-storm leftovers.

MBguy - 2/16/2016 9:52:38 PM

+3 Boost

Toyota wants everyone to believe that they are discontinuing Scion because they don't need a separate "youth brand" (i.e., separate from Toyota) anymore.

They've stated publically that today's mainstream Toyotas are much more appealing to young people, so the need for a separate brand became superfluous.

But this is hogwash. The reason that Scion failed is because THE PRODUCTS COMPLETELY MISSED THE MARK. Examples:

- The original xB was a huge hit. So what did Toyota do for the second generation? They completely changed it, stripping everything that made the original unique.

- After enjoying success with the original TC, the second generation had questionable styling and a vastly cheapened interior.

- The iQ... What a joke of a car. A vehicle for which there was no business case whatsoever. Cheapened the entire brand in the process.

- xA, xD... C'mon Toyota, did you really think young people were going to pick these over a competing Honda, Kia or Hyundai? Absolutely nothing compelling about them whatsoever.

- After getting enthusiasts excited about a rear-wheel drive, affordable sports car (that was being co-designed in partnership with Subaru), the FR-S became a huge disappointment, as it was seriously underpowered. (And the interior was a throwback to cars from the 1990's).

No, Toyota, the real reason Scion withered isn't because young people have 'transitioned' to wanting Toyotas.

Scion failed because you fielded cars that were unappealing, non-competitive and dated. This left buyers with no real reason to choose a Scion over competing vehicles.

In retrospect, you did all could to kill the brand. (Was it deliberate?)

MDarringer - 2/17/2016 8:44:39 AM

-2 Boost

They should make Prius a near-premium hybrid/PHEV/EV brand to slot between Toyota and Lexus.