Toyota says it achieved what it had hoped with the Scion, including attracting younger buyers.
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According to AP, another Scion customer, 39-year-old marketing and communications executive Sarah Wall of San Francisco, said she would consider a Toyota in the future if the brand adopts the same no-haggle pricing once offered by Scion. Toyota’s aim with Scion was to entice young and or first-time vehicle buyers to the Toyota brand. The brand will be phased out, and existing models-including the MY17, FR-S sports vehicle, iA sedan, iM hatchback, and C-HR concept car-will be folded into the Toyota lineup. This includes the FR-S sports auto, iA sedan and iM hatchback. The Scion tC coupe will be discontinued, with production ending in August.
“It’s been a great run and I’m proud that the spirit of Scion will live on through the knowledge and products soon to be available through the Toyota network”, said Scion vice president Andrew Gilleland.
Beginning in August, most Scion cars will be re-badged as Toyotas, which makes sense, given that many are already sold as Toyota models in other markets. Meanwhile, the C-HR small crossover, originally planned to hit the market under the Scion brand, will now come to America as part of the Toyota fleet. Despite a flurry of new products, Scion sales slipped 3.2 percent in 2015 amid an overall industry up 5.7 percent.
Scion-specific Toyota employees will be moved into their counterpart areas within Toyota’s structure, the company said.
Scion and all of its assets are to be absorbed by parent company Toyota, as the brand is killed off due to plummeting sales.
Finally, past year Scion started to address its new-model drought.
Toyota will scrap the youth-oriented nameplate. As Automotive News points out, shuttering Scion might cast it as a failure, but Toyota is in part vindicated in its efforts to strengthen its own image among young shoppers.
The decision won’t have much real impact.
In 2007, the xA was supplanted by the xD and the xB was redesigned (the new models are seen above at their Chicago auto show debut).
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Toyota Motor established Scion as a separate brand in 2003 for sale in U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, but sales plunged following the economic recession in 2008 and never fully recovered. Furthermore, the 1,004 dealerships that sell Scions will continue to provide service to Scion owners.
