Quote:
Originally Posted by MatadorRacing_F1
The major thing is, as I understand, kids these days don't want to be seen driving "mom or dads" cars. I'm not talking about the young enthusiast, who knows about the Supra, the rwd Celicas and all-tracs, the AE-86 and MR-2s. The average driving age teen I mean. The about to finish high school, in college, going into the working world young adult.
Even if Toyota had just said "let's make sporty cars again" It would not have solved their problem of an aging client demographic. Scion was created so that they could get young people into their showrooms, and start them of with Scion and have them grow into a Toyota, Mature into Lexus as they move up the social/financial ladder and then retire with another Lexus perhaps. That's the idea behind the brand. Yes, I despise their marketing tactics, but it is what it is. It irks me because there was potential for something much more than what it is, but the people behind Scion in the USA need to wake up and smell the coffee. It can yet be saved. I think Toyota is fine with 3 brands in NA. At least they aren't buying up other automakers like there is no tomorrow. Daihatsu exists in Japan and other eastern markets, It's not exactly the same idea, but it somewhat servers the same purpose. I think of Scion as a misguided USDM Daihatsu. It could do well with some oth their lineup actually.
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Why did they need to create the brand, though? I understand the youth not wanting the mommy and daddy cars. But that had little to do with the Toyota brand. It had to do with
every car in Toyota's recent line-up being agonizingly boring. Adding the tC as a Corolla coupe and the xB as simply a bB Toyota would've been fine.
I really think Toyota North America went crazy trying to jump on the 'tuner' bandwagon. But the thing is that it originally came up from the grassroots by people realizing potential in existing vehicles. Notably the Civic's potential to use Integra components, and the Supra's ability to withstand ridiculous amounts of boost. These were products that were 'chosen' by people to make a statement about performance, style, whatever. And part of the appeal is that it was rather individual (way back when). When Scion came out, it was during the over-saturation of the 'tuner' market (thanks Fast and the Furious!). And all of a sudden xBs and tCs were everywhere, having been given to 'notable' tuners to create show cars.
I think all this did was maybe reduce the market of Scion of older people who may have wanted an inexpensive practical box of a car. It also turned off a lot of their target audience (like myself) as being completely phony and trying to force or buy their way into my potential sales list. The last straw for me was seeing Scion as the new vehicle to sell TRD branded products. (Also which have sank down to being nothing more than over-priced re-branded components. Nothing like the good old days when they were simply expensive specialized components.)
The thing with youth market is that they can be very sensitive to targeted corporate marketing. Creating an entire brand for it can horribly backfire. If there is a desire for boxy mini-cars, fine. Build them. But what the hell is Toyota wasting all this money on a new brand for? Nissan has no problem with the Cube, Honda with their Element.
If the xB and tC were going to be successful on their own, there was no need for the $$$$$ to be spent on Scion. It could have been spent on the FT/R-86/S instead...
The future will tell if Scion goes the way of Saturn, Pontiac, Plymouth, etc... all branded as being entry-level youth oriented vehicles.
An interesting side note is that Scions may have a bit more 'cool' factor in Canada for the time being, since they are about as common here as some much more exotic machinery. Just from the rarity and mystery factor. 'What's that car?'