Toyota to Blame for Scion’s Troubles?
I was doing research for episode 4 of the Scion Underground podcast (which should be released tonight or early tomorrow morning BTW!), and I came across some fairly interesting quotes. Apparently, Toyota is the reason why Scion seems to be having a such a problem keeping its target demographic. When I originally posted about Scion’s brand image, I thought it was pretty much a Scion-centric problem. However, it doesn’t appear that way now. I go pretty in depth on the topic in the podcast, but here are a few bits to chew on…
Yoshi Inaba, launched Scion as CEO of Toyota Motor Sales
“Our second-generation products were not as free as we thought we would be… The xB and xA successors are a similar concept, slightly bigger. We are coming into a normal model-change cycle, not doing anything faster, which I am not happy about.”
Art Spinella, President of CNW Research
Toyota doesn’t need Scion, they should have spent the money on developing Toyota-branded products. Toyota’s been following the GM model for decades, and they followed it into launching a brand they don’t need.
The brand that Spinella is referencing is Saturn, which was considered by many to be a relatively poor decision. Instead of GM focusing on making higher quality vehicles across it’s already existing brands, they launched another one and more or less added more problems than solutions.
Then there’s the evidence that Toyota is responsible for breaking a few of Scion’s initial beliefs like limiting production numbers, never having more than three models for the Scion brand, and replacing each existing model with something radically different. There are more tC’s on the road than civics it seems, and xB’s are used as ad vehicles with vinyl wrapping advertising your local RE/MAX. The gen. 2 xB is so close to the original xB design, that it lost its freshness and edginess, and like most American vehicles, it gained excessive weight..
Art Spinella, President of CNW Research
Scion is no longer cutting-edge, I don’t think Toyota understands the brand any more.
And look at Scion’s plan to rid itself of the sales slump… they plan on adding more to the lineup. Not one, but possibly two new models to the Scion brand! Folks, our beloved Scion seems to be selling out its image, its uniqueness, and its risk taking nature, all while becoming just your everyday car brand. Dawn Ahmed, Scion’s Corporate Manager, said that the two new models coming to Scion would be small, inexpensive, and have unique looks.
When asked about the Scion’s young demographic, Ahmed said this:
“It’s an elusive target. We have to challenge ourselves to be relevant to trend-setting customers. We’re looking at ways to enhance and refresh our products.”
Ahmed also referenced Scion’s lack of fuel efficiency. While back in 2004/2005 back when gas had just flopped over $2 a gallon… 0_o , Scion’s mpg was looking pretty good. Today however, more and more cars are averaging 30mpg.
“We are trying to look at ways to deliver performance and fuel economy”
Why do I have a feeling that even though Scion owners, and even observers, have been clamoring for a Scion model with RWD, a turbo charge option, and better suspension, she’s not mentioning that kind of performance… If you’re going to have so many different models, why not have each one service a different segment of the young market? The original xB was stylish and funky, the tC could have been an outright performance monster, the xD and xA, I’m not so sure about… But if they’re going to introduce more cars to the Scion brand, shouldn’t one be a small truck? Fill every niche of your target demographic, and I’m sure the sales would go up. The tC is selling like hotcakes, and more and more young men are turned away from it because of the perception of it being a “girl’s car”. A performance model would allow Scion to capitalize on those young men and still keep the female market too!
Jack Hollis, Vice President of Scion
A fourth product is essential. It could be an SUV. It could be a hybrid. We want a fourth product that buyers of the other three Scions don’t like.”
Ok, that sounds a little bit better, but what will making a car that existing Scion owners don’t like, do for the Scion community at large? The xA and the xD are the least popular cars in the Scion family. Rarely do you see them modified on the road, and at Scion shows, you can usually count them on both hands. Many passionate xA and xD owners already say that they feel left out of the Scion community, or feel like outcasts. Won’t a new car that we don’t like, create a Honda like Hierarchy perhaps even more so than what exists already?
I have to say, this all a bit troubling, and I do have to laugh at my fanboy-ish initial response to the Scion criticism by Autoblog, Autonews, and the many other news sites that have been reporting similar news.
You do NOT want to miss episode 4 of the Scion Underground Podcast, it’s sure to be one of the most interesting to date! You can subscribe today by hitting the Podcast Feed if you’re using a Zune, your PC, or any other MP3 player. If you have iTunes, an iPod, iPhone, or an iPod Touch, you can click the iTunes button here: 
I really want to hear about what you guys think. Send your emails to ScionUnderground@gmail.com if you’d like to hear it on the podcast, or leave a comment right here on the blog if you don’t!
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