| Turbowned |
10-16-2012 10:38 AM |
My letter made it into Car and Driver!
DISCLAIMER: This letter was not intended to insult the Scion FR-S or any of it's owners; it is merely a lamentation of Toyota's decision to market the Toyota 86 as a Scion in the U.S. Put your flamethrowers away.
My friend called me the other day saying he loved my article in Car and Driver magazine, and I honestly forgot I even wrote one! It was in response to Aaron Robinson's August column titled "It's Time for Toyota to Kill Scion", seen here: http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/...l-scion-column
http://i.imgur.com/DMMa0.jpg?6843
Quote:
I wanted to thank Aaron Robinson for hitting the nail on the head in his August column. I'm a loyal fan who's owned a half-dozen Toyota MR2s and an AE86 Corolla. Last year, while working at a Toyota dealership and training on the Scion brand, I discovered that the FT-86 would be branded a Scion. As I'm sitting in front of a computer screen being dictated what people in my generation want in a car and staring at pictures of absurdly dressed hipsters as examples of "people like me," I find out that Toyota's saving grace would be bundled within the "fresh" and "hip" Scion franchise. It's bittersweet to say that my next rear-drive sports car will be wearing Subaru's stars of Pleiades; amazing how the company that has never had a car like this before managed to pull off a brilliant marketing campaign and offer trim levels that people actually desire, while the company that used to churn out iconic sports cars puts its next brainchild on a dimly lit stage here in America
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Here's the un-edited version of that letter:
Quote:
Hello,
I wanted to thank Aaron Robinson for hitting the nail on the head in the August issue. As a loyal fan who's owned a half dozen Toyota MR2's and an AE86 Corolla (and whose friends have MR2's, Supras, Corollas, even a V8 Cressida!), you can imagine my reaction when I read the news last year that the FT-86 would be branded a Scion. This occurred when I began working for a Toyota dealer and was in training on the Scion brand. As I'm sitting in front of a computer screen being dictated what people in MY generation want in a car, and staring at pictures of absurdly-dressed hipsters as examples of "people like me", I find out that Toyota's saving grace would be bundled in with the "fresh" and "hip" Scion (decent cars with bad marketing). Images of local Toyota meets flooded my memory, with clusters of nicely preserved Celicas, Corollas, and MR2's all displayed in pritsine order while the Scions were shunted off in their own corner to play with their big stereos and neon lights.
All I can say is, "Bad move, Toyota". Not only because of Scion's wanna-be brand image and more importantly, lack of racing heritage (remember when Toyota was in WRC, Le Mans, F1, etc?) but also because Scion vehicles are offered as "mono-spec", meaning the rest of the world has trim levels and options to choose from, while we get stuck with only the bargain basement model; so that Toyota 86 GT-Limited that I wanted? The rest of the world gets it, but not here. It's bittersweet to say that my next rear-drive sports car will be wearing the Stars of Pleiades; amazing how the company that has never had a car like this before managed to pull off a brilliant marketing campaign AND offer trim levels that people actually desire, while the company that used to churn out iconic sports cars puts their next brain child under a dimly-lit stage here in America.
Best Regards,
-Corey Kononchuk
Marshfield, MA
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Feel free to agree or disagree, but remember that I have no disrespect for anyone who bought an FR-S, just disappointment at Toyota. |
