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Big ado about nothing. Mr. Robinson is pining away for something that doesn't matter nearly as much as it did in his youth - brand. Sure, Scion doesn't really stand for much other than as a bin for Toyota's quirkier and cheaper cars. But Toyota doesn't stand for much anymore either. It is known as a quality maker of cars that share few distinguishing features other than a certain blandness and no-offense styling. His desire to see the "Celica" reborn is really out of touch. To me, that name always sounded like an insect and the cars bearing that name varied too widely in quality to lend the name a solid identity.
Even Toyota's successful Lexus franchise is beset with a kind of jewel-like blandness - like heavy but plain, gold and diamond jewelry. Lexus is a luxury brand that stands for little other than a desire to avoid risk by its owners.
If Toyota really wanted to start in a new direction, it would have created a TRD nameplate akin to Chrysler's SRT. But since they put FR-S into the Scion bin, their second best choice is to remake Scion's image. After all, that shouldn't take too long. They have made a good start by dumping the dowdy XD and the fuel-pig XB. The IQ was a bad decision, but I have a hunch that it will be rare enough not to make too much of a negative impact. If Toyota plays its cards right, and builds Scions along the lines of the FR-S, and stays away from (idiot) marketing consultants, it will be able to remake Scions image in just a few years.
As far as Mr. Robinson goes, he's stuck in the past.
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