[Dimman]

New-Matador:

The term 'average' isn't always what people think it is. Scion could be selling 99% of its cars split evenly between only 50 year olds and 20 year-olds, but that makes the average buyers age 35, which isn't an accurate picture of who's buying the cars.

It's depressing to think that Toyota has sank countless dollars into a brand that you feel needs a light freshening after only 10 years. And considering there are only 2 generations of product in that span... People need to be fired (so they don't 're-structure' back into Toyota and do more damage), and then Scion needs to be killed.

Suzuki, I haven't seen much of a change in, Volvo got marginally less ugly, and Hyundai's quality has been improving which is a legitimate improvement, not a marketing image fix.

Cadillac is your best example out of that bunch, but they moved more upscale, not down, as well as going after BMW dynamically. They moved down in the age of buyers, but not to the point where it was targeting kids. GM may be able to do make some good changes after the bankruptcy scared some sense into them. I worry that Toyota in its new number one position will follow in GM's old retarded footsteps.

Scion spent 10 years building a terrible image of douchey kids who want DJ booths in their cars. It will take time and a LOT of money to erase that image and creating a new one.

Edit for your edit: Go back to those sales numbers I posted. They are selling about 120,000 cars less per year than 4-5 years ago! Less than 50%!


Old Matador:

I've been thinking that the Corolla GT-S nameplate would work very, very well for this car. It has instant name recognition by anyone who has thought about buying a car. In AE86 form it was respected as a sports cars, even by those who haven't adopted the fanboi's 8-6 designation.

Some OG Supra guys I talk to:
Me: "Nice 86 over there."
OG Supra guy: "What?"
Me: "Drift Corolla."
OG Supra guy: "Oh yeah, nice."

There are older folks that may have fond memories of their first GT-S but never went hard-core enthusiast about them. Younger kids could get mommy and daddy to the dealer to look at the new Corolla a lot easier than the new Levin or Trueno (Tru-eh-no?). It has the platform to drift or race if that is what's wanted. They could even race in FIA GT3 class (I think? GT4? They keep changing...) internationally to raise excitement for Corolllas and Toyotas.

I think it has the widest reach of any name, as well as good heritage.

Either way, though, Toyota needs a move-up car for after this and before the IS, whether it's a Scion or Toyota.