Quote:
Originally Posted by matadormi5
I'm not a fan of Scion, and I'm not a supporter of the 86 being sold as a Scion but...
4 years ago I wasn't a fan of Hyundai, but they've added so much spice and excitement into the line-up that they've become a very cool brand imo. The 86 (and I guess the IQ) could be the very first to salvage Scion's image.
There are a few comments I've read saying that they hope the scion fails so Toyota will just sell the 86 under their label. I don't think that'll work. Toyota execs honestly believe that young/enthusiast people will/do buy scions. So if the 86 doesn't sell as a Scion, Toyota execs would prob jump to the conclusion that "young/enthusiast must not want cars like the 86" and probably never try and make a sporty car like it for a looooong time. Much less try and sell it again as a Toyota.
It'll take a more than 1 or 2 cars and a lot of good marketing/planning to shake Scion's crap youth-moron image and help sales. But if it works, then they'll know that the 86 is the type of car that WE (their target market) want. If it fails, Toyota will likely not try to make sporty cars again for a long time--not a good thing for us.
So...if it does end up as a Scion, I do hope it does well.
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A successful iQ would do far more for Scion than the FT86. The FT86 would just result in sales cannibalization of the tC. It is Toyota that needs the image boost.
Ichi, avert your eyes for a moment. Or just understand I'm not ripping on your car, just the reaction of the general public to it and comparing it to the WRX reception.
Look what one car (the WRX) did for Subaru in North America. Prior to it they were reliable, functional cars driven by grown-up successful hippies that liked to ski. They initially tried to do sporty with the 2.5RS, but for the most part it felt like a factory rice-job (available ridiculous graphics package, with nothing more than the larger H4 from the Legacy). This is similar to tC, sportier looking car that shares most of its components with the Camry. Few people cared about sporty Subarus until they did it seriously with the WRX, and then STi.
But look what the WRX did for Subaru's image! Massive change.
This is why I rail against Toyota NA for making Scion. It was a ridiculous waste of money re-branding boring transport appliances into 'exciting' cars. Instead of creating one or two
genuinely exciting cars for the Toyota line-up.
Scion is a tragic waste of millions of dollars that could have been used to develop the FT86 earlier, maybe a new GT4 Celica, and kept the LFA under its original design spec of an aluminum space-framed V8-powered new Supra to compete with the overweight GT-R at a price point between the Z and the GT-R. Speaking of Nissan, the Z did some work there.
However it is too late for Scion. Its reputation is solidly planted as a majority (
majority Dragonitti,
not everybody, don't get your panties in a bunch...) of wannabe, douchey, posers that already think they are a performance brand. But Toyota NA has to give away Scions and PAY 'tuners' to mod the cars that the wannabes drool over. And that lack of authenticity and sincerity will prevent a lot people from going to a Scion dealer to buy the FT86. Toyota needs to rein in the idiots running the North American show.
No one gave me my Supra or paid me to tune it. I do it because the car is fucking awesome.