Scion FR-S Convertible & subcompact crossover shown at annual dealer meeting - report

[IjustwantaGT86]

I think another part of the Scion problem is that their "Pure Pricing" isn't that unique anymore. The dealer where I bought mine has had a no haggle sales price on their Toyota's for years.

Also, for a brand that prides themselves on the buyer being able to customize the vehicle they purchase, however with the FR-S I could have gotten fog lights, a TRD exhaust, an ashtray and various pieces of clear plastic stickers. If you look at the UK's toyota.co.uk and they get to choose from different packages which has always been my beef with scion.

[zc06_kisstherain]

if they put FRS under toyota brand in first place, i already bought it instead of BRZ.
whatever they're trying with Scion brand, i see them like failure

[malave7567]

I personally love both my xB and my FR-S. I much prefer the second-gen xBs over the first-gen because I use it as a small SUV and load it full of stuff, and the 2.4 liter engine has much more grunt over the 1.6 (1.8?) in the first-gen.

But I do agree they need to do something else with the brand to keep it viable. Though I wouldn't mind if they just rolled everything back up into the Toyota brand.

[Havsie]

Originally Posted by BANGER

^ I wonder if the FR-S could have sold more if it was sitting with the other Toyotas in dealerships when people from various groups (parents looking for a school car for their kids, middle age people, etc.) happened to be strolling around the lot. The FR-S stands out so much (in a positive way), but I think it just ends up being hidden in the crap pile that is the Scion section of the dealership.

That really depends on the dealership. My dealership has the Toyota and Scion vehicles sitting next to each other and there are no "Scion Salesmen" either. My FR-S was parked out front next to a Prius and a Land Cruiser. You don't get more variety than that.

Regardless, I don't really care if Scion goes away. The days where the brand brought over the more quirky JDM cars to the American marketplace is over, it doesn't really serve much of a purpose anymore. The pricing is good though, I did not want to spend an extra 5000 dollars in markup on a BRZ down the road at the Subaru dealership.

[tacoss23]

Honestly they should just get rid of Scion.

The experiment of attracting young buyers only works if....you have a brand behind it. The reality is that those "young buyers" they were going after, actually care a great deal about the brand they are buying, regardless of the "sweet deal, price wise".

When you have a brand that is immediately identified to be one of the cheapest lineups in the market, together with no history, recognition or brag rights in anything you don't necessarily build a "desirable brand" for a younger audience.

Add to that, the fact that every time you think of a Scion Tc, you think of a Pizza delivery car. Not necessarily the kind of association most young buyers want. Unless of course you are talking about the small audience of high schoolers that don't go to college straight out of high school and work in minimum wage jobs for few years to pay their Scions.

Unfortunately Scion won't go anywhere, with so many options out there, so much competition, why would a "young buyer" go for a Scion when there is Honda, Nissan, Subaru, VW, Ford, Chevy lining up after them.

Just make it Toyota, plain and simple. Get the prestige back, build actual good "fun" models (see: GT86 success) and cash in.

These guys thought that the issue was with the brand, not the cars.

The issue was that Toyota wasn't making fun cars, all they were concerned about is squeezing an extra MPG so they can get sell the car to soccer moms and not so smart commuters that think 3 extra MPG does anything for them.

[Rabble]

I liked pure price.

But Scion's marketing is and has always been absolutely atrocious.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Rabble

...But Scion's marketing is and has always been absolutely atrocious.

I agree with this. Look what a golden opportunity Scion blew with the First86 program. Granted those of us in it were treated well, and received a lot of benefits from it, but really Scion did not take advantage of it. A few dealers did, but except in a few rare cases it was pretty much a "secret" event.

Heck, my dealership couldn't have cared less about the whole thing. They had zero interest in using it to their advantage.

Oh well.

[executor]

Originally Posted by IjustwantaGT86

That would grind my gears if they changed the Scion FRS into a Toyota GT86 in the US after I already bought a FRS!

or thinking positively, it may increase the value in your car, due to the limited production under the alternate name of Scion

[BANGER]

^Yeah, and just imagine if your FR-S was also a 10 Series.

[Frstorm]

Scion brand isn't going anywhere.

[Sasquachulator]

Originally Posted by vh_supra26

Remember that A-bat concept truck? There were rumors about it being a Scion.

Its unfortunate that thing never saw the light of day. I remember there was much fanfare for it (not for its looks, its ugly as shit, I believe it was a hybrid too, so Fuel economy would have been a selling point) for the sheer fact it was a truck smaller than the Tacoma. Nowadays the Tacoma's market segment is shrinking, I think them and the Nissan Frontier are the only two left standing (is the Dakota still alive?). But thing with those trucks are that they're not exactly 'small' like the A-BAT would have been. If I remember correctly, the reason for the shrinking marketplace was that you could either have a full capacity full size truck, or a midsize truck for the same price and similar gas mileage. And 9 times out of 10 unless the sheer size of a fullsizer bothered you to hell, there was no reason to go for the not-that-much smaller truck and compromise in towing capacity and space.

[kajun]

Originally Posted by tacoss23

The experiment of attracting young buyers only works if....you have a brand behind it.

I'd definitely agree. From a non-US perspective, the Scion brand is a complete mystery. As far as I know, it's only a brand in North America, so ultimately, when the Scion management goes to Toyota headquarters they're going to get models which are marketed as Toyota elsewhere in the world. So why try to establish a sub brand?

Toyota succeeded in establishing a brand at the luxury end of the market in Lexus, but that strategy works because there's a single Lexus brand globally, and they've got sufficiently differentiated models. The 86 sells as a Toyota everywhere else, and it's selling like hotcakes despite having the Toyota branding. It'll occasionally get called a new Celica, but that's easy enough to live with. Same goes for the other Scion models.

Finally, everyone knows the Scions are ultimately Toyotas, so all you get is something that's an obvious step-child to the main branding.

[vh_supra26]

Originally Posted by Sasquachulator

Its unfortunate that thing never saw the light of day. I remember there was much fanfare for it (not for its looks, its ugly as shit, I believe it was a hybrid too, so Fuel economy would have been a selling point) for the sheer fact it was a truck smaller than the Tacoma. Nowadays the Tacoma's market segment is shrinking, I think them and the Nissan Frontier are the only two left standing (is the Dakota still alive?). But thing with those trucks are that they're not exactly 'small' like the A-BAT would have been. If I remember correctly, the reason for the shrinking marketplace was that you could either have a full capacity full size truck, or a midsize truck for the same price and similar gas mileage. And 9 times out of 10 unless the sheer size of a fullsizer bothered you to hell, there was no reason to go for the not-that-much smaller truck and compromise in towing capacity and space.

Dodge is dead but GM is bring both the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups back.

At a series of industry seminars in Traverse City, MI today, General Motors executive vice president Dan Ammann gifted us with our first glimpse of the upcoming midsize pickup range from Chevrolet and GMC.

Just two slivers of nose are all we can see of the soon-to-be announced Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon, though the teaser image does make plain that the pair will follow the styling cues (at least up front) found on big brothers Silverado and Sierra.

GM hasn't given us much in the way of detail in its ultra-brief press release that accompanied the teaser image, which is to be expected. We're told only that the pair of trucks are designed to be "capable, versatile and fuel-efficient alternatives to full-size pickups" and that production will start sometime in 2014, at the Wentzville, MO assembly center.

You know how these things go though: a teaser leads to a leak, which leads to us knowing nearly everything before the small trucks have their sheets pulled at auto show. The Detroit Auto Show and Chicago Auto Show appear to be the leading venues for the models' debut. Stay tuned.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/08/08/g...kup-rendering/

[vh_supra26]

There were also talks about the Scion line up to be just of the FR-S coupe, sedan, droptop, and wagon/hactback. All existing Scion models would join the Toyota line up.