Toyota is killing Scion brand (luxury, 2010, car audio, coupe)
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I am doing car shopping now and saw bunch of Scion at the local Toyota dealership. It looks cheap & most people going for Toyota want "reliable" car before anything else, not save money. My dad was little excited by Scion price and being Toyota brand thought it would be good for me. But even the guy at the dealership told me Scion is in different class compared to Toyota Corolla or Camry. Not wroth comparing the two or expecting similar performance.
What I find interesting is the with sister car to the Subaru BRZ people bought the BRZ but to so much the FSR. Same car different name, I can only guess that people seemed that they preferred the Subie.
Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
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Interesting given the Scion brand is just a brand segment of completely normal Toyota product. No difference in 'quality' although they do sit at the lowest end of the Toyota spectrum in many (but not all) cases. Scion is now selling the hatch version of the Corolla (which I think is a sharp car for the price), for instance. I think the bigger issue is that much of their product is no longer in vogue with the US buying public. The bread van cars like the PT Cruiser, HHR, Cube, etc are also dead as people move to either a mini-SUV or something like the Transit Connect.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Around here, the xB was very popular with the 18-25 guys for customizing as a boxy "ricer" back in the early '90s. Sales dropped off in 2010, probably as that group got older and chose something more practical.
Its hardly surprising. It was a great idea, but poor delivery.
They had pure pricing, so no negotiations and the rare discounts they did have came from the manufacturer. This was great as people would likely just shop the closest Scion dealer, but the problem was they couldn't compete with competitive offerings who would cut price.
The cars had no radios on the showroom floor. A radio was included in the price, and upgraded stereos were available installed in the shop, but its hard to sell a car when folks can't listen to the radio. Everyone I sold a car to turned on the radio just to make sure it sounded ok to them, and that includes folks that don't care about car audio systems.
The TC was a cool looking coupe, supposedly to replace the Celica, but the truth is it accelerated and handled like a minivan or a Corolla. Most people looking to buy in that segment wanted a little more performance bona fides.
They didn't hit the target market. The xB was popular especially with older people. It could be modified to take a wheelchair lift, and was just the right height for ingress and egress if you had bad backs, hips, etc...
Ultimately, Scion was kind of like the rave dance that was held at the student union. Yes, it checked off most of the boxes in theory, but a party that the School hosts isn't going to be nearly as fun as one held at an off campus club. In the same way, Scion checked a lot of boxes for its target demo, but if your car is "custom from the dealer," then it isn't really custom, is it?
After their initial launch, their product updates and additions to the brand were too slow and too far in between. In addition, they went in too many styling directions never giving the brand a true identity, and never really brought out anything which was truly market competitive instead living on the outskirts of more niche markets where there was not much competition. (xB, at least early on, we see what happened when the market picked up, sales tanked... also the tC which is in the compact coupe market which most automakers long abandoned, etc).
IMO, Toyota handles scion more like GM handles it's former (and extinct) bet brands, Saturn and Geo.
To be perfectly honest... Toyota as a brand is rather boring. They have Lexus filling the luxury niche quite well, but for their bread and butter line... it's all way too bland. Having the Scion cars branded as Toyota would have given their lineup a shot in the arm I think.
Instead, they spun off a brand that never caught on with consumers. Toyota's lesson to be learned here is to not mess with a good thing. They've got great brand recognition with a reputation for reliability. It made no sense to create an entirely new subdivision with neither of those things going for it.
To be perfectly honest... Toyota as a brand is rather boring. They have Lexus filling the luxury niche quite well, but for their bread and butter line... it's all way too bland. Having the Scion cars branded as Toyota would have given their lineup a shot in the arm I think.
I agree. Toyota hasn't been exciting since they killed off the Supra. The Celica was as close to excitement as you could get in a Toyota after that.
When I think Toyota, I think blender, or toaster. I don't even realistically consider Toyota when deciding on cars because they remind me of an appliance brand.
If they could bring over some Lexus styling, maybe throw in some HP and a few RWD platforms, they might capture more market.
It looks cheap & most people going for Toyota want "reliable" car before anything else, not save money.
Scion reliability actually outperforms Toyota. The Scion xB was the most reliable car on the market.
From my observations Scions were generally purchased by both the youth set and the gray hairs. The xB in particular was very popular with the seniors. However, Kia has made inroads there and now you see a lot of them in the Soul. They're both small, reliable cars that are easy to maneuver and easy to get in and out of.
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