The decision to retire Scion was decided, according to a press release issued this morning, in part because the younger customers Scion was intended to draw are content purchasing Toyota cars.
Scion was established more than ten years ago with the goal of luring youthful consumers into the Toyota fold with low-cost compact vehicles and no-haggle pricing.
The brand has had trouble lately. From a high of 173,034 in 2006, Scion sold 56,167 vehicles in 2015.
The compact and ferociously angular first-generation xB was an unexpected hit for the brand at first.
However, a larger second-generation xB and a related model known as the xD did not earn favorable reviews.
Toyota let them age instead of keeping them updated, then briefly tried to revive Scion with niche models.
It introduced the (since-discontinued) iQ city car and the FR-S sports car, neither of which had the potential to generate significant sales.
Toyota gave Scion two new mainstream vehicles to market alongside the FR-S and the current tC coupe this past year.
The Mazda 2 sedan is the iA, and the iM is a Toyota Auris hatchback with a different paint job.
Although the two appeared to be exactly what Scion needed, it may have been too little, too late. In any case, they will stay in the family.
Most Scion vehicles will be rebadged as Toyotas starting in August, which makes sense given that many of them are already offered as Toyota models in other regions.
Despite the fact that the 2017 model-year FR-S, iA, and iM models were not mentioned in today’s statement, they will be offered as Toyotas.
In This Article...
Why did Scion production stop?
Toyota stated that the Scion brand would be phased out in August after the 2016 model year on February 3, 2016, claiming that the firm no longer needed a specific label to appeal to younger consumers. For the 2017 model year, the FR-S, iA, and iM models were combined under the Toyota name as the Toyota 86, Toyota Yaris iA, and Toyota Corolla iM, respectively, while the tC was dropped. The then-upcoming C-HR, which had been introduced as a Scion, was likewise transferred to the Toyota brand. Since Scion vehicles were sold and maintained at Toyota dealerships, it was not anticipated that the change would affect the availability of services. [6] [23][19][24] [25][26]
Scion: Was it a failure?
Toyota will assert that Scion wasn’t a failure and that it succeeded in its goal as a laboratory for reaching out to younger customers. However, this writer was present for the brand’s 2003 San Francisco launch as well as numerous presentations and interviews that have since taken place.
Toyota, in my opinion, would have preferred to see Scion prosper as a brand rather than a short-lived experiment. The majority of what follows is editorial: Here are five reasons why the brand wasn’t a sales successsome obvious, others not.
A brand is simply fueled by good products. The Scion brand did, however, offer a few hints of greatnessthe early cult following of the perfectly boxy xB and the greatness of the original tC coupe, for instancebut it frequently lacked sufficient product (or offered an evolved product) at the precise moment when the market might have been most receptive.
Scion aimed to provide Americans an upmarket small-car product in a style that they wouldn’t typically find. Back at the xA debut, Scion representatives used the Peugeot 206 as a comparison.
That’s a good start, but thinking back to the original Scion introduction, the company said that performance, functionality, and specs weren’t stressed since they believed that if they were accurate, “the product will pretty much sell itself,” as a spokeswoman put it.
Will Toyota bring the Scion back?
There is currently no new information regarding Toyota bringing the Scion brand back as of 2021. In order to maintain the line’s best-selling models on the market for potential customers once the brand was canceled in 2016, they shifted them over to Toyota.
Toyota launched Scion in 2003, and it operated for a total of 13 years. They did have some success in attracting younger customers during that time. They also had a dealership model, which was more approachable to many people because there was no haggling involved and you could simply go in and purchase the vehicle you desired.
The Scion brand was losing money as Toyota struggled to keep it afloat since they were not selling many cars toward the conclusion of their tenure. Overall, Toyota decided to discontinue the brand out of business considerations. Toyota may introduce some cars in the future that borrow styling ideas from Scion, but I do not anticipate the brand name to make a comeback.
What was the Scion’s replacement at Toyota?
Scion has the lowest average buyer age in the whole auto industry, yet those models would have likely performed just as well as vehicles bearing the Toyota name. For young people on a tight budget, the Corolla series offers models with manual shifters, models with sporty styling, and models that are really economical (or limited budgets given to them by their parents). Most of the time Scion was a brand, the Corolla outsold anything Scion by a ratio of four or five to one. In Toyota showrooms, the Corollas were right next to the Scion tC and other compact vehicles. As a starter vehicle, the Corolla is difficult to compete with, and Scion never had much of a chance.
Toyota should be commended for attempting Scion and even more for giving up when the experiment fell short of achieving the true objective, which was to create a low-cost sporty line that Toyota could sever from Toyota like its Lexus brand.
How trustworthy are scions?
The Scion tC is a sporty, two-door compact car with a reliability rating of 4 out of 5, which is above average. The Scion tC is essentially a Toyota with a separate logo under the hood. This is mostly because Toyota owns Scion, and the Toyota base and engine are used in the Scion tC.
What about Scion automobiles?
Toyota’s 2004 debut of the youthfully spirited Scion brand received an overall 7/10 grade from Car & Driver. Scion produced a number of reasonably priced, attractive, dependable, and sporty cars up until 2016, when the brand was once again integrated into the parent corporation.
Although it has only been around for a little over ten years, Scion has earned a reputation for itself as Toyota’s attempt to court hip, young drivers with a new lineup of cost-effective yet eye-catching cars. Several Scion cars were rebranded as Toyotas even after the brand was brought back under the umbrella of the Toyota mothership in 2016. The FR-S evolved into the 86, the iA becoming a Yaris variant, and the iM into a Corolla variant.
What does Scion mean in context?
Scion and heir both imply “one who obtains property from an ancestor” or “one who is entitled to inherit property,” hence there is a significant overlap between their meanings. They do, however, also differ slightly from one another. Both terms can apply to a descendant, although heir is more fitting for a kid or relative who receives an inheritance. Additionally, scion is sometimes used to refer to “a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or important family” even if one may be the heir to a family of modest or large means.
A scion is described as “a detachable living piece of a plant (such as a bud or shoot) connected to a stock through grafting” in the context of horticulture. A plant’s “main stem,” “a plant from which cuttings are produced,” and “a plant or plant part connected with a scion in grafting” are all examples of “stock,” in contrast.
We pronounce scion as sajn in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). For those who find it difficult to understand IPA, another way to think of it is that the word “scion” is spoken with the emphasis on the sigh and the un as a single syllable.
Is Scion a dead brand?
Today, Toyota announced the discontinuation of the Scion brand. It was initially introduced by the Japanese automotive giant in 2003 with the intention of luring in younger customers in the North American market, and it appears to have been successful; the brand reportedly has the youngest average buyer age (36) in the automotive sector. However, Toyota has decided to discontinue Scion.
The remaining models, the FR-S, iA, and iM, will be offered as Toyotas starting with the 2017 model year. The tC (seen below) will go out of production along with the brand in August 2016. Additionally, a Toyota emblem will be added to the next Scion C-HR.
The 22-person, committed Scion team will all be given new roles at Toyota USA, and Scion vehicle servicing and repairs will continue as usual at Toyota dealerships. People in other countries are still examining the top photo and asking themselves, “What’s that strange insignia on the front of that GT86?
UPDATE: Toyota USA has subsequently told us that even when the Scion brand is dropped, the FR-S model name will continue to be used.
How long is the Scion tC’s lifespan?
Comfortable According to the highest mileage ever recorded for a 2006 Scion TC, this vehicle is dependable, great on gas, and has been well maintained. It gets up to 500,000 miles, making it a really nice car to own.
Why is it called the Toyota 86?
The Toyota 86 was named after a previous generation of the Toyota Corolla, a car from the same manufacturer that is somewhat underestimated when compared to more recent models. Even though it doesn’t sound like an exciting car now, the Toyota Corolla GT-S from the 1980s was surprisingly agile in its day. The Toyota 86 was first influenced by the AE86, a model of the Corolla that was known as the Corolla GT-S. The 86 model name so has part of the brand’s history behind it, despite the fact that the numbers may appear to be fairly arbitrary.
What are the Scion tC’s most frequent issues?
Primary Scion tC Issues
- excessive use of oil. This has been reported by 56 people.
- Engine Check Light a result of the VVT-i Controller’s defect. This has been reported by 47 people.
- Uneven running conditions and exhaust smoke.
- When exposed to extremely cold temperatures, vehicles may display a variety of electrical problems.
The Scion logo is what?
The Los Angeles business Fresh Machine originally created the Scion logo, which is very identifiable. The majority of observers believe it to be a stylized “S surrounded by the Scion nameplate. Some people see it as the dorsal fin of a swimming shark, conjuring up images of dynamic movement and the delights of West coast water sports. It might be the reflection of a road extending into the distance. It might even be two scythes (akin to the Scion name) or be based on the Toyota Sienta badge’s negative space.
The Old French word cion, ciun, cyon, or sion, which means a sprout or twig, is the source of the term Scion. It frequently serves as the “descendant of” root. Scion is thus considered a “descendant of Toyota.”