[Matador]

Originally Posted by Dimman

For me it's the bigger picture that is the concern.

If this car comes out as a Scion that means that Marketing has more influence on development than Engineering. This would set a bad precedent for performance development, where it would become more important for people to BELIEVE in performance than for the car to REALLY perform.

They are trying to create the belief that Scion is a performance brand, by using cars that are completely different to what they actually sell, beyond having the same name. Who knows how they justify this? "People don't ACTUALLY want to drift. It's just cool to watch and be part of the scene, so people will still buy tC's" I don't know... The brand itself is a poser when it comes to performance, and I have no interest in supporting that.

If they start muscling in on what start off as REAL performance cars, who knows what damage they could cause: "Well, since people only want a car that LOOKS fast, we can add in some power seats, full glass panel sunroof, and not bother wasting engineering resources on performance. Better raise it so people don't have to slow down for speed bumps, and soften the suspension for comfort. Now more people will buy it, because it's more like a Camry, and lots of people buy Camrys!"

While I share your concern, accounting affects development far more than marketing. Marketing is a by product of the end result. It will affect what cars are made, but most definitely not how they are made.