This. They are placing more stock on a sporty brand image to make their cars seem more of what's trendy.
Sometimes putting a lemon on a plate of spinach makes it appealing. They know you don't want the lemon, but it makes the spinach more attractive.

Him - "Let's go down and look at the new Supra"
Her - "OK"
Him - (at dealer) - "WOW I want one"
Her - "It is too much money, the dog won't fit and there is no place for the car seat but look at this beautiful Prius over here"

And the Supra is brand new where the 86 is largely unchanged since summer of 2012. There are still people out there unaware the Supra is out. Anyone interested in the 86 won’t be swayed one way or another by TV ads and there are beaucoups of used versions available. There just isn’t much bang for buck advertising for the 86 at this point.


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Can't quote you there Quentin,
Yep. There were a few TV ads when the FRS first came out but mostly it was marketed on the internet. The whole Scion advertising style was predominately web based though so the lack of TV ads was not surprising.

Back in College, around the release of the FR-S, there was an ad posted on every bus that ever came onto the campus grounds. The ad also displayed the recent graduate rebate of 1000$ off... That ad taunted me daily...

I'd say they hit their target audience well enough, considering the amount of young owners and young dreamers of this car.

same here! And those ads is what eventually led to my buying the car

Yep. I HAD to have one.

After doing all kinds of research on it, it only made wanting one into needing one.

Well the number of "young" owners has increased proportionally with the drop in price of the used ones.
If you consider the "young" group to be under 25 years of age then they only account for 3% of the combined new sales. The "old" group of 65 and older more than triples the youngsters. Of course the bulk are someplace in between the two extremes.
I doubt that this has changed much with the 86.
The forum sort of skews the perception of the age groups a bit since as the cars can change hands several times the used buyers greatly outnumber the new ones.
https://static.ed.edmunds-media.com/....by.gender.jpg

Ironically enough I had never seen an ad, TV commercial, web ad, or an actual car before I stumbled across mine in the show room. I read something that they were thinking about building them back in 2009 or 10 and that was the last I ever heard. This means I never lusted after one since I had no idea they existed. I literally (in the true meaning of the word) bought the very first Twin I knew existed or ever saw in either real life, print or a screen.

See this graph is interesting because does it equate for parents that buy their children cars, or that have primary ownership of the vehicle (Keyword: Registrations)? I am the exception out of a lot of people that I know that has actually owned(owns) a new car in my own name, everyone uses their parents car or was given a car by their parents. Could also just be the people I know and have met?

Most definitely though any, or at the very least, most owners I've seen in person is of the age of 20 - 35~; there are always exceptions of course.

I remember this story, and think it's crazy. Among the post secondary young people, a lot of them seemed to know what they were. It's almost as if they relied on those people sitting in the bus loop to generate hype (which is a down right silly thought).

@Tcoat story is the same as mine, except with the '85 MR2. I went to the Toyota dealership to buy an SR5 p4x4 pickup, saw the MR2 on a vehicle carrier getting ready to be offloaded, and basically bought it on the spot. It was the first one the dealership had received, so was in the first shipload to make it to the US. Before that day I had never seen it, heard of it, or even knew it existed.

Well, yes, just like any other car where someone under the age of 21 gets a new car, it's likely registered in the parent's name and is owned by the parent. That's really the only statistic they have to go by, who paid for and registered the car.

Now before everyone gets all "Dadhawk is ageist" on me, I realize there are 16 to 21 year olds that are perfectly capable and do buy new cars themselves. It's just not really a very high percentage. I have 3 sons that have passed through that age bracket with lots of friends, most of who I have met. I don't know a single one of their friends that purchased a new car themselves. Quite a few purchased a used car either with or without help from their parents, but none of them were new. I can only think of one person I know of that got a new car for her 16th birthday, and that was a Nissan Leaf that was basically leased for net zero dollars because of tax incentives at the time.
@Jordanwolf, I guess in the end we are saying the same thing.

it's the new age of advertising man, ultra targeted.

People on here get this car no problem, it's so cheap and accessible but as a broke student with debt, I DREAMT of owning this car. Doesn't help that everyone around me wanted me to buy something sensible with 4 doors. My mom was actually upset I bought it. I remember her sitting across the back seats cause her legs wouldn't fit, genuinely upset, saying something like "you don't care about your mother" lol