Scion Brand Image In Trouble?

Scion has been the envy of the automotive world for over 5 years with its record breaking sales figures, but with recent sales dwindling, and more and more buyers not in Scion’s demographic, picking up xD’s, xB’s, and tC’s, many are wondering if Scion has lost touch.

First there was Autoblog, then Autonews had something to say as well. Has Scion lost it’s cool appeal? If it has, what can be done to change it?

I for one, think there are a few things that Scion messed up. If you’re an OG Scion owner like myself, you remember how hard it was to get one that you wanted. You had to wait sometimes up to a month or more for delivery of your car, and even then, you were told to choose from several different car colors just in case. I still remember the days when people couldn’t even pronounce the brand’s name (What’s a Sky-on?)!

Fast forward to today, and Scion’s are a dime a dozen, especially the tC’s. In Southern California, you used to be able to wave at a fellow Scion owner or throw up a peace sign, and get acknowledgement back. The new owners act like you’re driving a civic or something!

Scion had a great thing going when they limited production of the Scion brand. They were rare, and you felt like you were part of some exclusive group. Scion’s were unique and polarizing. They made you stop and take notice. That’s not the case anymore. It’s common to see xB’s being used as advertising vehicles, with the bodies being wrapped in vinyl. More and more “old” people are driving xB’s, especially the gen 1’s, and I don’t think I’ve seen more than 10 people under the age of 30 driving xD’s. There are more tC’s on the road than honda civics! Had Scion maintained those low sales numbers intentionally, I think the overall health of the brand would be much improved. However, one can’t fault Toyota for wanting to get as much money as possible!

Another problem with the Scion brand was the lack of personal ads. When Scion first came out, commercials often featured real owners talking about their cars. That left an impression on me, because it seemed Scion was encouraging you to mod your car, and make it your own. After that, all the commercials consisted of an xA, xB, tC, or xD simply driving in a unique environment, or maybe showing a HIGHLY modified model and that was it. For many of us, owning a Scion is only half of why we’re Scion enthusiasts. The rest is because of the community, and while Scion is aware and clearly cares about and markets to the community, the average person buying a Scion would have no clue that there are so many passionate owners that love their car, and love to hang out together.

Scion’s trying to change that with the new United By Individuality campaign, but the damage may have been done. I never like buying cars that I know everyone and their mom has. I LOVE the new Chevy Camaro, and my first introduction to cars was an ’85 IROC-Z that my dad owned (and still has). However, I’d probably never get a new one because I just know they’re going to be as common as a Motorola RAZR.

Here’s what Scion should do:

1) Get rid of the current tC ASAP. It’s old, and there are too many on the road

2) Showcase the community in your ads more

3) Introduce a Scion PERFORMANCE car. Young people like speed, and with Scion pushing their Racing teams so hard these days, it seems like a no brainer!

4) Limit production again

Those 4 should probably yield nice results. What do you guys think? What would you do to turn the Scion image around?

~ by scionunderground on August 9, 2008.